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Lydia Ko claims Olympic gold as USA's Nelly Korda, Rose Zhang fail to medal

gentry estes, usa today
·2 min read

SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France – New Zealand's Lydia Ko completed her Olympic trifecta on Saturday, adding a gold medal to her silver from Rio and bronze from Tokyo.

At 10 under par for the event, Ko shot a 1 under 71 on Saturday to hold on and win the Paris Olympics golf tournament at Le Golf National by two strokes over silver medalist Esther Henseleit of Germany (8 under) and bronze medalist Xiyu Lin of China (7 under).

It was a disappointing finish for a trio of American players. World No. 1 Nelly Korda, Rose Zhang and Lilia Vu each shot over-par rounds Saturday, with Zhang (5 under) and Tokyo gold medalist Korda (1 under) each stumbling to miss the medals after starting the final day in contention.

Korda's final round came undone with a triple bogey on the par-4 15th hole. Along with the 7 she carded in Thursday's second round on the par-4 16th, her Olympics largely went astray on two holes.

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"I played pretty solid until the last couple of holes – again," Korda said. "I feel like that was just kind of like the story of my week. … Recently, what's been happening to me is I make a mistake and then I make another mistake on top of it."

Lydia Ko of New Zealand on greets fans on hole No. 1 in the final round of women's individual stroke play at the Paris Olympics at Le Golf National.
Lydia Ko of New Zealand on greets fans on hole No. 1 in the final round of women's individual stroke play at the Paris Olympics at Le Golf National.

As challengers faltered one after another Saturday, Ko led the field by as many as five strokes at one point. But her own double bogey on the 13th hole helped make things interesting down the stretch, as did Henseleit turning in a 6 under 66.

Under pressure, Ko made four consecutive pars before arriving on the par-5 18th hole with a one shot lead. Her third shot there was a beauty, resting within six feet of the hole. She made the birdie putt to secure the gold.

Zhang finished tied for eighth in her first Olympics. Korda finished tied for 22nd, and the third U.S. player in the field, Lilia Vu (5 over), closed with rounds of 76 and 74 to finish tied for 36th.

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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Lydia Ko wins gold as US fails to medal at Paris Olympics golf