Lydia Ko – shares the 54 hole lead with Morgane Montreaux – image PGA Tour/ IGF
New Zealand’s Lydia Ko tees it up in the final round of the Olympic Women’s Competition at Le Golf National in Paris later today with one of the most significant days in her already stunning career ahead of her.
Ko is tied in the lead with Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux through 54 holes of the event and if she can go on and claim the Gold Medal then she will not only complete a remarkable trio of Olympic Medals of all colours but will enter the LPGA Hall of Fame.
Ko has defied her form of recent months by recovering from a relatively slow start on Wednesday to work her way into contention with rounds of 67 and 68 to follow her opening round of 72 and at 9 under she shares a lead of 2 shots over American Rose Zhang and Japan’s Miyu Yamashita.
“Overall I played solid but oday was difficult with the wind picking up,” said Ko. “The wind was up all day, and despite being in the final group I felt like I was able to embrace the atmosphere really well. It was a lot of fun.
“I had a great group and I think when I did make some mistakes, I was able to recover really well and stay patient. I think that’s a big key in any kind of major event, and especially at a big one like this.
“In ways, I do think that because I have two medals under my belt, I’ve got nothing to lose. I know that I’m going to give it my all and I’m going to try my hundred percent, and if it is meant to happen, it’s going to happen. I know that feeling; standing on the podium is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime kind of story-tale emotion that you feel and I would love to feel that again tomorrow.
“But there’s still 18 very difficult holes in front of me, so I’m just going to focus on that and see where that puts me. But I feel like my game has progressed really well this past month.
“So it’s actually good to see all the training and work that I’ve been doing with my coaches kind of pay off, and yeah, for it to, hopefully, I’m going to be positive and if it does payoff here at the Paris Olympics, I mean, there’s no better place to do it I guess.”
Ko’s co-leader, Metraux, plays the LPGA Tour but she has not enjoyed a lot of success there although she has won on both the LET and Epson Tours so does have experience in the heat of the battle although at a much lower level than will be the case in the final round.
Hannah Green continued her fightback from her opening 77 with rounds of 70 and then 66 today to be tied for 11th at 3 under par and six shots from the lead.
Minjee Lee is tied for 21st at even par.
Leaderboard
