Lydia Ko wins Olympic gold, qualifies for LPGA Hall of Fame - ESPN

SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France — Lydia Ko completed her Olympic medal collection Saturday with the most valuable of them all, a gold medal that puts the 27-year-old New Zealander into the LPGA Hall of Fame.

Ko built a five-shot lead on the back nine at Le Golf National as her closest pursuers all collapsed and then had to hang on until the very end. Her lead down to one, Ko laid up on the par-5 18th, hit wedge to 7 feet and made birdie for a 1-under 71 and a two-shot victory.

She won the silver medal in Rio de Janeiro and bronze in Tokyo. The missing one turned out to be more valuable than its weight in gold. The victory pushed her career total to 27 points for the LPGA Hall of Fame, one of the strictest criteria for any shrine.

Esther Henseleit of Germany finished birdie-birdie for a 66 to make Ko work for it. She wound up with the silver. Xiyu Lin of China birdied the final hole for a 69 to take the bronze.

For Nelly Korda, Rose Zhang, Morgane Metraux and so many others, it was a day to forget. All of them were in range early. All of them fell back with big blunders that paved the way for Ko.

This is the latest prize in a remarkable career for Ko, who won her first LPGA title as a 15-year-old amateur and rose to No. 1 in the world for the first time at 17. She began this year with a victory, leaving her one point short of the Hall.

To cross the line with Olympic gold?

«It would be a hell of a way to do it,» Ko said at the start of the week.

She finished at 10-under 278 on a course that presented gnarly rough and water on 10 of the holes, most notably at the end when the pressure was greatest.

Ko becomes the 35th player to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame and the second-youngest behind Australian great Karrie Webb