Her mother thinks she was a better golfer in her teenage years, but Lydia Ko showed Hall of Fame credentials with a thrilling and fitting victory at the home of golf on Sunday. Just three weeks on from completing a full set of Olympic medals with gold in the Paris Games, the New Zealander came from behind to complete a stirring AIG Women’s Open triumph worthy of St Andrews’ historic Old Course.
Ko’s success provided a glorious conclusion to the major championship season despite challenging conditions, a worrying stumble from the world number one Nelly Korda and some painfully slow play. Galleries numbering 52,887 were treated to a shootout involving the very best of women’s golf with former number ones Lilia Vu and Ruoning Yin also involved in the tense finish that lasted until the final green.
There, Vu missed a birdie putt that would have forced a play-off after Ko had become the only leading contender to break 70 as strong winds gusted across golf’s most famous links. Ko’s closing three-under 69 ended an eight year wait for a third major title and it was fitting that such a storied player should triumph in the sport’s most celebrated surrounds.
‘It’s been a whirlwind of a past three weeks’
A decade ago she became golf’s youngest world number one and in 2015 she fired a record 63 to grab her first major at the Evian Championship. Then she quickly added the ANA Inspiration title.
She seemed destined to dominate majors for a generation and more. But golf rarely follows a predictable path. “I’ve had my fair share of ups and downs between 2015, 2016 to 2024,” Ko reflected after receiving the trophy.
“When things are going well, it’s hard to think about when you’re not playing well because all you’re really doing is just enjoying that moment.
“And on the other hand, when things aren’t going well, you feel like you’re never going to get out of that lull. I’ve been in both of those positions.”
Ko’s Olympic victory took her into the LPGA’s Hall of Fame. At 27 she is the youngest to earn such an accolade, yet there had been a growing feeling that she had become an under-achiever.
This major win, surely, banishes such a notion. “My mom says I was so much better when I was 15,” Ko smiled. “But now I can say, hey, maybe this statement is wrong.
“It’s been a whirlwind of a past three weeks. It’s been crazy to get into the Hall of Fame by winning the gold. These are things that I could have never imagined because they were just too good to be true.”
Ko profited as Korda crumbled after assuming a dominant position with a barrage of birdies around the turn. The current world number one seemed to be cruising until her wedge into the par-five 14th flew long.
She then took four shots from the back of the green for a ruinous double bogey and then failed to capitalise on an accurate approach to the 16th. The championship was firmly in her grasp but she let it go.
Slow play needs ruthlessly penalising
There should be some sympathy because Korda is a refreshingly quick golfer. Maintaining any kind of rhythm was impossible, though, because her playing partner Jenny Shin was dispiritingly slow.
Final round two balls lasted five hours. Even allowing for the delays caused by the weather, St Andrews’ unique double greens and shared fairways, such tardy pace of play undermined what should have been an extraordinary spectacle.
The men’s game is equally culpable and radical action is required.
Every player in leading tournaments should be on the clock. It eventually happened on the 12th hole to Vu and playing partner Jiyai Shin, who were in the final group and had fallen more than a hole behind Korda and Jenny Shin. But the system does not work.
Golfers should be automatically monitored and with slow play ruthlessly penalised this curse could be banished.
Depressingly, there is little chance of such action being properly implemented.
On the upside, we can enjoy Ko’s welcome resurgence. She is an engaging personality and a wonderful golfer.
At the start of last week this Seoul-born Kiwi wondered out loud how much longer she will continue to compete. Thankfully she is not yet ready to to step back from the game in the way the 29-year-old Lexi Thompson is planning.
Ko recalled some recent advice from a friend. “Try to think of getting into the Hall of Fame as like a gas station on the way to my final destination and not like my final destination,” she said.
“I was making it seem like that was my end point, and after hearing that, that put it into perspective. It’s not like I’m going to get in the Hall of Fame and say, ‘bye-bye, golf’.”
It is just as well she did not, because this Women’s Open was a career highlight to cherish.
