Inbee Park kept her composure in strong wind Friday and made two late birdies to regain the lead, posting a 1-under 70 for a two-shot lead going into the final round of the women’s golf at Olympic Golf Course.
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But whenever she needed to make a stand, the 28-year-old simply dialled up the putter and rammed it home to keep the chasers at bay.
Beginning seven strokes adrift of Park, Ko followed an opening-hole birdie with successive gains from the fifth. Unlike most golf tournaments, the Olympic competition is unique in that in the event of a tie at first, second, or third place, there would a playoff for the medals. “Then again this morning, I probably left the range a little bit mad, the swing not really there, not where it needed to be”.
“The course was playing very, very hard”. ‘I think she could be in the top 10 any year she wants, ‘ he said. Heading into Rio, she had played just one event in two months – she missed the cut – and attention was turning toward a potential retirement.
“I enjoyed it. I could experience what it’s like to play in the Olympics and I definitely would like to compete in the next Olympics in Japan”, she said.
“I didn’t play very well for the first half of this year, with my LPGA ranking out of top ten”.
“I feel like my ball-striking’s really good right now”.
“I’m going to try to keep calm as much as I can”, she said.
“I’m gonna welcome them in my head”.
Charley Hull came to the Olympics as the world’s 27th ranked player and showed everyone just why she should be ranked an bad lot higher than that by Tokyo in 2020.
Feng and the rest of the field were not able to keep pace with the South Korean, who wrapped up victory with birdies on the 13th, 15th and 17th as she earned her third five-under-par round of 66 of the competition.
Lewis shot an 8-under-par 63 to end her second round at nine-under overall in a contest that has returned to the Olympic agenda for the first time in 116 years.
She already had lost a three-shot lead in gusts up to 30 miles per hour Saturday at Olympic Golf Course.
She can allay her frustrations with two more good rounds in Rio. “If you start playing some good golf, you can get on a run and win some tournaments”. She is a four-time victor on the LPGA Tour this year, the best player in women’s golf and finally got some confidence in her putter.
US women’s team member Stacy Lewis suggested that men make too much money compared to women golfers to bother representing their countries.
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Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn, who was clubhouse leader after the first round, withdrew on Friday with a knee injury.
