It was always going to happen at the Olympic Games. It was just a matter of which one.
Colombian Mariajo Uribe planned to call it quits on her golf career at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics before she got pregnant with her son, and the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the Games to 2021. Fans weren’t allowed to attend the women’s golf competition that year in Japan, and Uribe wanted to share her final moments as a professional athlete with family and friends.
So she set her sights on the bright lights of Paris, ultimately qualifying for her third consecutive Games mostly because of an unexpected victory at the Women's NSW Open on the Ladies European Tour. Uribe then announced that the Paris Olympics would be her last competitive golf event, planning to step away from the game at Le Golf National.
And boy was her retirement party a special one.
Uribe was in medal contention at various points throughout the week in France, eventually falling out of the conversation during Saturday’s final round. But medal or no medal, it was an unforgettable experience for the 34-year-old, a moment she will never forget.
“I wouldn't change it for anything,” Uribe said. “I'm so glad I made the decision to finish it here. It's been such a great week. The crowds have been unbelievable. (This is) the most Colombians I have ever had following me. So many flags, and the rules are kind of different this week. People yell. People can chant. It's been amazing. I'm really glad I stuck it out for the last year and made this my goal because it's been an unbelievable week.”
Uribe proudly wore the Colombian colors at Le Golf National, even holding up her country’s flag while being introduced on the first tee ahead of the third and final rounds. It wasn’t initially in her plans to be flashing her nation’s colors as she was recognized on global television, but Uribe said she was trying and make those few seconds feel a bit less “awkward” when asked about it in her third-round interview.
“I had the flag there, and I asked Heather (Daly Donofrio), ‘Can I put it?’ And she said, ‘No one has said anything, and no one has done it,’” explained Uribe on Friday. “I saw a gymnast from Colombia who brought a traditional hat and did something really cute with it. It's a really long five seconds, so not that much (thought) about it, but I thought it would be a good touch.”
The Bucaramanga, Colombia native first joined the LPGA Tour in 2010 and has collected 14 top-10 finishes throughout her career, the most recent of which came at the Kingsmill Championship presented by GEICO in 2018. Even though Uribe never won an LPGA Tour title, she represented her country well, earning the respect of not just her friends and fellow South Americans but of all her LPGA Tour counterparts.
Spain’s Azahara Munoz was a 2010 rookie alongside Uribe after the two played collegiate golf against each other, and the pair were friends right from the start of their professional golf careers. Munoz and Uribe both elected to continue playing after having their sons in consecutive years, with Mariajo giving birth to Lucca in 2021 and Azahara having her son Lucas in 2022, and their relationship was further strengthened after becoming LPGA Moms, another special bond that quite a few athletes on Tour now share.
But what Munoz admires most about Uribe is her spirit and resolve to keep grinding no matter how deep of a hole she finds herself in, something that was evidenced by her fight to get back to the Olympic Games one last time.
“I would say her character,” Munoz said when asked about Uribe’s strengths. “She never gives up. She's quite the fighter. That's how I would define her. (Mariajo is) definitely a fighter.”
Those words couldn’t have rung truer on the final day of the Olympic women’s golf competition.
After a difficult final round that saw Uribe go out in 40 on the front nine, she dug deep, determined to finish strong at a difficult Le Golf National. Coming to the last hole at 3-over par for the round, the 34-year-old smacked her drive down the center of the fairway and decided to go for the green in two from 179 yards on the reachable par 5, something that most of the field did throughout the event.
But what happened next felt scripted.
Uribe aimed right at the flag and made a confident swing, hoping that the ball would find the bottom of the cup for an albatross. And it almost went in, stopping six feet from the hole and leaving the Colombian a putt for eagle, a perfect opportunity for the fairytale ending that Uribe had always dreamed of.
With tears in her eyes, she once again brandished the Colombian flag as she made her final walk up 18. But the emotion overwhelmed her entirely when Uribe rolled in her putt for eagle and the crowd behind the green roared.
“Once it went in, the waterworks started coming down,” said Uribe. “Seeing all my family, my husband came to say hi to me on the green. It was just unbelievable. I know I didn't win a medal, but it's been so special that I might as well feel like I did.
“It's the perfect way to end my career. I'm never going to forget this.”
Few athletes ever get a moment like that. And even if she reflects on her career in the coming days and wishes she had done this or that differently, there’s one thing that Uribe can take solace in.
She will always have Paris, and in many ways, that’s more than enough.
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