Lydia Ko Is A St Andrews Champion
Her third major win comes in a battle against current and former World No. 1's. Korda, Shin, Vu and Yin finish in four-way tie for second. Plus, Woad takes low am and NBC's issues surface (again).
As the wind howled and rain ensured a full Scottish experience, multiple current and former World No. 1’s rose atop the 2024 AIG Women’s Open leaderboard. But only one player in the last 15 groups broke 70 during the ghastly weather: Lydia Ko. Her steadiness outlasted dynamic efforts from the pursuing greats and made the New Zealander a fitting winner of a St Andrews major.
Early in the week the new LPGA Hall of Famer, recent Gold Medalist and former low amateur at the Old Course mirrored the sentiments of past winners at the world’s most important golf course: Ko admitted early in the week to being a gradual admirer of links golf.
Just days later after surviving the worst imaginable summertime links weather, Ko’s two-stroke victory may end up defining the 27-year-old’s brilliant career. And while current No. 1 Nelly Korda threw away her second major win in 2024 after two head-scratching double bogeys over four days of otherwise brilliant play, Ko’s absurd steadiness ultimately prevailed.
“Something that was too good to be true happened, and I honestly didn't think it could be any better,” said Ko after birdieing the 18th hole to reach the clubhouse at 7-under-par. “Being here at the Old Course at St Andrews, it makes it so much more special.”
Ko started three back of Jiyai Shin. Yet she and the other elites initially seemed undaunted by the miserable conditions, as evidenced by valiant runs. The final day brilliance started with Korda, who began two back of Shin. And there was also defending champion Lilia Vu, Ruoning Yin, and two-time champion Shin. Other chimed in momentarily when nine players were within three of the lead just after leaders were at the loop of holes where the weather is always worse. This week, the R&A barely moved the 11th hole because only one are of the green was protected enough to function all day.
As some of the surprised contenders faded away, a four-way tie surfaced with Ko on the Road hole, Korda a group behind and the final pairing of Vu and Shin at the 15th. All have ranked first in the world, including young Yin, who’d overcome the worst side of the first-round tee time draw to hang around long enough to finish in a four-way tie for second.
Korda seemed as if she was destined to win and repeat Vu’s feat from last year in capturing the first and last majors of the year. The 26-year-old’s focus and calm seemed restored after a brutal summer run and reportedly came thanks to recent lessons from dad Petr, who she worked with in Prague following the Paris Olympics. Korda birdied the fifth, seventh, ninth and 10th holes while three-putting the sixth for bogey. She arrived at the par 5 14th with a one-stroke lead over Ko and by two over Shin. With the tees moved up to 548 yards, Hell bunker was not the issue. Korda actually got within paces of the green after two strong shots and faced a semi-blind lob shot to a pin cut 30 paces into the massive double green. Five shots later, she was back to 6-under par.
“I had 58-degree and it just shot on me,” she said. “The wedge shot that I had over the green was kind of sitting a little bit in a hole with some of the the ‘hay’ or whatever you call it behind it. I just didn’t catch it cleanly and then obviously didn't make the putt for bogey.”
The double bogey seemed as unimaginable as her Saturday six at the par 4 16th, where Korda drove out of bounds despite a westerly wind blowing balls away from the boundary fence.
“I'm going to mess up and unfortunately I messed up over the weekend twice in two penalizing ways coming down the stretch,” Korda said. “Theoretically that's what cost me the tournament but I played well.”
The same overall brilliance that saw Korda win six straight times earlier this year in a variety of settings was also on display throughout her first foray over the Old Course. But the rare hiccups came at the worst times imaginable, including a bogey at the 17th where she had to play away from the hole after barely trickling into the Road bunker. A par putt came up way short and set up a required eagle at 18.
Moments before Shin’s second shot at the 15th left the two-time champion with a nearly impossible two-putt and huge bogey for the 36-year-old with 64 worldwide wins. This made defending champion Vu the last legit pursuer once Korda did not hole out. Birdies at the 12th and 14th moved the defending champion to six-under-par before her magical putting vanished at the last two holes. A birdie putt at the Road came up inexplicably short and she was fortunate to salvage par. Then a three-putt at 18 dropped her to five-under and a tie for second with Shin, Korda and Yin. That short miss cost her solo second and $297,480.
For all of the missed opportunities, the Old Course brought out tremendous play in hideous conditions all week that you wouldn’t wish on an influencer. Ko’s plotting style featured just one bogey at the 15th surrounded by four birdies at the fourth, 10th, 14th and 18th. Before a key par-saver at the 16th Ko added more burden to her putt.
“I had my 3-footer and I looked back towards the leaderboard that was there, and it said I was tied for the lead,” Ko said. “The 3-footer kind of seemed a little bit longer at the time. Because I thought it was a straightforward putt, but then I was looking at it from all sorts of directions. I was like, Wow, I don't want to keep making mistakes over and over.”
She’s modest. Her lone final-day mistake would have been compounded by a miss. Instead, Ko made the putt and capped off her week with a birdie at the last to win her third major.
“Just before my second shot on 18, I realized that I was tied for the lead, and I knew I kind of felt like the girls coming in would also birdie the 18th,” Ko said. “So I wanted to make sure that I birdied and just give myself a chance at it, no matter if I go in a playoff or end up not winning.”
She made the birdie, respectfully acknowledged the crowd, then camped out at the putting green to stay loose for a playoff to get visual confirmation on a historic win. Ko’s biggest major victory to date came after Vu missed a downhill birdie putt, freeing up the low-key champion to celebrate with family and friends as the latest legend to conquer the Old Course.
Ko By The Numbers
4: Final round birdies
11 of 16: Fairways hit
15 of 18: Greens
30: Putts
124: Putts for the week (T5 for the week)
13: Birdies for the week (T20)
6: Bogeys for the week (T1 fewest)
3: Career major championships (2015 Amundi Evian, 2016 Chevron)
1st: Top-10 finish in a major this season
21st: Career LPGA Tour victory
240: Made cuts in 257 career starts with 115 top 10’s.
Quotable
Ko on her accomplishment. “My mom says I was so much better when I was 15. I was a better golfer when I was 15 than I am now. But now I can say, hey, maybe this statement is wrong. It's been the 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. To say, Oh, like what are the odds that that's going to happen at the Olympics, and then a couple weeks later I'm going to win the AIG Women's Open, I would have thought somebody was honestly messing with me. But here I am, and it's just been unreal.”
Korda (T2) on the week. “Overall, I think I putted really well this week. I hit the ball really well with the conditions. It will be interesting to see when I don't play in 30-, 40-mile-an-hour winds what my ball flight is going to be like, finally seeing it go straight.
I.K. Kim (+11) on why she announced her retirement after finishing. “I feel this championship has been most challenging to be honest because it's something, I've never played links course. Actually 2007 was my first Open here and I wish I can say that I have improved but the score-wise, it went up a little bit. It has been truly life-changing. I've learned so much of ups and downs and accept some tough challenges and then there's some good days, as well. And also the relationship that I have had with R&A have been incredible. They have always been looking after all of us, and they have been quite a mentor for me. So it's been all good.”
Angel Yin (T10) on the Old Course: “The more you play this golf course, the more -- it's so amazing, and the more I like it. Every single condition, every single day is so different. You can play the golf course in so many different ways. I think this is such a special golf course. Because I never played this before this week. And I think it's exceeded my expectations. I think it might be my favorite golf course I've played on.”
Woad Continues Dream Year
Lottie Woad won the Smyth Salver as the leading amateur to mark the second straight year an English player captured the honor (following Charlotte Heath’s performance at Walton Heath).
Woad’s 287, 1-under total gave her a four-stroke margin over Spain’s Julia Lopez Ramirez. More impressively, she set a new record for an amateur in the three Women’s Opens at St Andrews by seven strokes. The previous record-holder were Georgia Hall and Lydia Ko.
The R&A awards a bronze to Lopez Ramirez as well as cutmakers Louise Rydqvist and Ela Anacona.
The Augusta National Women’s Amateur champion earlier this year, Woad has maintained a healthy perspective despite her sensational play and major championship experience gained.
“The Chevron was the first one and played well at that,” Woad said. “Then the U.S. Open and Evian definitely brought me back down to earth. It's so tight up there. You're two shots from kind of being 80th or 40th, which is the difference from making the cut. So definitely learnt about kind of the small margins there.”
The Florida State junior plans to remain an amateur.
“I don't think this will change anything,” she said. “I've still got a lot more things I want to work on. I'm in The Open and U.S. Open next year. So I get to play those as an amateur and just learn more.”
Next up: this week’s Curtis Cup at Sunningdale where she’ll be Captain Catriona Matthew’s top player.