Lydia Ko wins gold to complete Olympic medal slam

After silver in 2016 and bronze in 2021, Lydia Ko has won gold to complete the Olympic medal slam. 

The New Zealander held off Germany’s Esther Henseleit by two shots to finish on top of the podium at Le Golf National in Paris.

In doing so, the 27-year-old has qualified for the LPGA ‘Hall of Fame’.

“One of the things I’m most proud of is I stuck to my game plan and stuck to being aggressive off the tee,” said Ko. “That’s been something that I’ve been struggling with and been working really hard with on with my coaches.

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“To progressively get better these past couple months and for it to peak here at the Olympics, it doesn’t get better than this. To be holding and wearing this gold medal, it’s pretty crazy.”

The two-time major champion started the final round tied for the lead with Swiss golfer Morgane Metraux but found herself five shots clear walking down the tenth fairway.

A double-bogey on the 13th briefly threatened to derail her medal charge but she recovered well to take gold at the expense of Henseleit, with China’s Lin Xiyu claiming the bronze.

“Going into this week, everyone was saying, oh, what if you finish and collect the gold on top of the silver and bronze you have,” added Ko. “Of course I want to do that but it’s much easier said than done.

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“I wanted to focus on my golf and nothing else. That’s why I deleted my Instagram because I just didn’t want to be fazed by what other people were saying and just enjoy this opportunity because this experience has been unbelievable and the fans have been great.

“The French fans have been awesome, kind of taking me in as one of their own. It’s definitely a life peak for me here. I don’t think I’ve experienced this kind of adrenaline before.”

World No.1 Nelly Korda – winner of the gold medal in Tokyo three years ago – finished well done the leaderboard in a tie for 22nd, with Team GB’s two representatives, Charley Hull and Georgia Hall, finishing T27 and T36 respectively.

Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor