SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France – Lydia Ko’s gold medal and LPGA Hall of Fame hopes are now well within reach at the Paris Olympics.
The 20-time LPGA Tour winner clinched her 26th Hall of Fame point with a victory at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in January and is now in hot pursuit of the 27th point necessary for automatic qualification into arguably one of the most exclusive Halls of Fame in sports at the Paris Olympics.
After carding an even-par 72 in the first round of the Olympic women’s golf competition at Le Golf National, the 27-year-old came out swinging in Thursday’s second round, firing a near-perfect, 5-under 67 to sit in solo third with 36 holes to go just outside of Paris.
Ko made four front-nine birdies, two of which came consecutively on holes two and three, and she collected two more birdies on her closing nine. She dropped her only shot of the day on the par-5 18th hole after finding the rough off the tee and making bogey to ultimately sit at 5-under total and three shots back of the 36-hole lead, held by Team Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux.
The two-time major champion said she was inspired by Frenchwoman Celine Boutier’s 7-under effort on Day 1, and Ko sought out a low score of her own in the second round, a feat she almost accomplished in full on Thursday in France.
“When I saw Celine shoot that 7-under, I thought she was playing a different golf course than me,” Ko said. “But in ways, it gave me hope that I, too, could maybe shoot a score like that. Today, I played really solid and didn’t put myself in that many awkward positions. Being consistent is really important around here, especially off the tee.
“A little bit of a sloppy finish, I would say, but other than that, if I don't think that I bogeyed the 18th hole and I said, I bogeyed it on eight or something I would have probably been even happier. It's putting it into perspective. But it’s nice to have a good round under my belt and be in a good position for the next two days.”
Ko is the only woman to medal twice in the history of the Olympic women’s golf competition, taking silver in Rio in 2016 and claiming bronze at Tokyo 2020 after falling in a playoff to silver medalist and 2024 LPGA Tour rookie Mone Inami.
While becoming a three-time medalist would be a special accomplishment for the LPGA Tour superstar, Ko’s attention is really focused on securing gold over the weekend at Le Golf National, as that would not only complete her quest for a medal trifecta, but it would also finally secure her spot in the LPGA Hall of Fame.
But the veteran has been as locked in as she can be on what’s right in front of her at this challenging Olympic venue, a strategy that has worked well over the first two days and one that she will continue to implement throughout the next two rounds.
“Honestly, this golf course is so hard, it's hard to think about the other things because I'm just trying to shoot the best score I can around here,” said Ko. “I think this is the toughest golf course we've played in the past three Games, and all of them had very different characteristics.
“It's really cool that if I did win the gold, I could get in the Hall of Fame, and it would stop all these questions in the future. I feel like if it's going to happen, whether it's in Paris or in Florida or in Scotland, it's going to happen. I'm just excited that I have this opportunity. If I get to do it here, it would be a pretty cool way to get it done.”
Nelly Korda knows exactly what it’s like to have gold hanging around her neck, and after opening her medal defense with a hard-fought 72 on Wednesday, it looked like the reigning gold medalist had finally figured out Le Golf National early in Thursday’s second round.
She made six birdies in her first 15 holes to move to 6-under, three of which came in a four-hole stretch from Nos. 3-6 on the front nine, before a quadruple bogey on the par-3 16th knocked Korda well down the leaderboard. The Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 then bogeyed 17 to fall back to 1-under overall, steadying herself with a birdie on the par-5 18th to post a 2-under 70 and sit T12 with 36 holes to play.
Even though it felt like she handed away an opportunity to put herself in the gold medal conversation before the weekend rolls around at Le Golf National, Korda wasn’t as dismayed at the devastating finish as she maybe would have been had the quad happened on Friday or Saturday.
“If I can get my whole game together for the next two days, and if I would have done this on the last day or let's say the third day, then I would be extremely heartbroken,” said Korda. “But I still have 36 more holes, and anything can happen. I'm trying to see the positive in this. Scottie (Scheffler) came back, shot 9-under and he won. If you're hitting your shots, then you're staying present, and I think anything can happen.”
Korda has captured six titles on the LPGA Tour this season, winning in all sorts of circumstances – wind, rain, cold, ahead, behind, tied – so an eight-shot deficit doesn’t feel like too much to make up for the 14-time LPGA Tour winner, particularly considering the grit and determination the fiery Korda possesses when it comes to battling through some of golf’s biggest challenges.
“I played 16 holes of really, really solid golf. I was 6-under to that point,” Korda said. “Just a series of unfortunate events happened in a row, but I ended on a birdie and made a wonder putt after leaving myself in not the easiest of positions on the right side of the green having to go almost through the sprinkler heads. Overall, I still shot under par. I'm going to try and take the positive.”
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