South Korea’s Inbee Park clinched Gold in the Women’s Golf event after a final round 66 in Rio, as Britain’s Charlie Hull finished in a tie for seventh.
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“My celebration was like as if I won the gold”, said Ko, who shot a final-round 2-under-par 69. “I w”.
Ko finished with a silver medal in Saturday’s final round behind Park In-Bee of South Korea, who took the first women’s Olympic golf title in 116 years.
But conditions were benign for the leaders as they rolled home, allowing Ko and Feng to grab the minor medals.
Park has been suffering a debilitating thumb injury for much of the season and rumours have been rife for several months she is ready to hang up the clubs and start a family.
“There was supposed to be some wind, but it didn’t materialize and I could go for it with both my shots and putts”.
After appearing to blow her chances with a two-over-par third round of 73, the GB player looked to have played herself back into contention for a podium place but came up short after undercooking a putt on the 18th.
But the no-shows triggered a debate about golf’s future in the Games and whether male players value the lucrative winnings available on their tour over playing for their country.
Ko almost had a second consecutive eagle on the par-four ninth, when her approach shot landed beyond the pin, spun back and almost dropped in. “It feels great. It’s just really all I’ve wanted”.
“There was a little bit of confusion from me whether I can perform well this week or not because I really haven’t performed well this year with the injury”, she said.
“Brazil isn’t a huge golfing nation but it was pleasing to see a lot more people come out for the last two days”. For four of us here, if anybody can have a good result, it will really change everything of golf in China.
It was another example of the unique nature of Olympic golf, with players vying for positions other than first and adjusting their strategy accordingly. “It was such an honour”, she said.
US women s team member Stacy Lewis suggested that men make too much money compared to women golfers to bother representing their countries.
More benign conditions – and far more birdies – prevailed Friday morning, however, and Ko’s hole-in-one was not even the day’s first. The 19-year-old Kiwi at least made one that mattered.
While Inbee Park ran away with the tournament five shots clear of her nearest challenger, the fight for silver and bronze was far more compelling.
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Maria Verchenova of Russian Federation posted the lowest score, a 62 that featured the third hole-in-one of the tournament. She missed the cut or withdrew in her last four events, even skipping the U.S. Women’s Open and Women’s British Open to try to heal and get ready for the Olympics. Ko also missed a 12-foot birdie putt on the 10th when Park, who had driven into the water, still had about 5 feet to make bogey.
