Olympic champion Ko ends eight-year major drought with Women’s British Open win
New Zealander won the Olympic gold medal earlier this month
St Andrews: Lydia Ko ended an eight-year wait for a major title with victory in the Women’s British Open at St. Andrews on Sunday.
The New Zealander, who won the Olympic gold medal earlier this month, birdied the last on a windswept Old Course to finish with a round of three-under-par 69 as he claimed her third major title on a tournament total of seven under.
Victory gave the 27-year-old Ko her first major since she won the 2016 Chevron Championship.
Defending champion Lilia Vu failed to sink a 15-foot birdie putt on the last at St. Andrews, ‘the Home of Golf’, to force a play-off and then missed from barely 12 inches as Ko, already in the clubhouse, completed a two-shot victory.
World number one Nelly Korda led by two strokes on the 14th tee of the renowned links course on Scotland’s east coast but then took seven shots on the par-five hole and bogeyed the 17th as she finished in joint-second place alongside Vu, Yin Ruoning and Shin Ji-yai on five under.