Ko triumphs in Old Course classic

Lydia Ko crowned the most magical month of her storied career by overcoming a host of fellow superstars to secure glory in the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews.

The iconic Old Course played host to one of the great final days in major golf, with Ko’s final-round 69 – completed with a crucial birdie on the 18th – enough to clinch victory with a seven-under aggregate, by two shots from defending Champion Lilia Vu, world number one Nelly Korda, overnight leader Jiyai Shin and Ruoning Yin.

It was impossible to call a winner as a memorable Championship moved towards the most dramatic of conclusions amid gusting winds at the home of golf. Four players were tied for the lead with just a handful of holes to go, but it was Ko who finished the strongest, producing some fantastic golf in the face of challenging conditions and extreme pressure.

More than eight years since she claimed her second major victory as a teenager, Ko has now added the AIG Women’s Open title to an Olympic victory in Paris a fortnight earlier that sealed her place in the LPGA Hall of Fame.

Vu put up a magnificent defence of her title and could have forced a play-off with a birdie at the 18th, but the Champion from Walton Heath 12 months ago finished with a bogey to share second with Korda, who had pulled clear around the turn, Shin and Yin.

Next came Ariya Jutanugarn on three-under, meaning each of the top six spaces on the leaderboard were taken by players who have topped the Rolex Rankings - an emphatic illustration that the cream had risen to the top at St Andrews.

Fittingly, the Smyth Salver awarded to the low amateur also went to a world number one, as Lottie Woad rounded off her terrific week by finishing in a tie for 10th on one-under. 

Ko shared the Smyth Salver with Georgia Hall at this venue 11 years earlier, but the New Zealander can now celebrate claiming an even bigger prize.

Ko comes up clutch

In her pre-Championship news conference, Ko spoke eloquently about how difficult it is to win majors, with her previous successes having come at the 2015 Evian Championship and 2016 ANA Inspiration.

The 27-year-old could hardly have faced a stiffer test as she aimed to end her wait for another title, given both the calibre of opposition in her way and the ultra-demanding weather that once again made scoring tough.

Yet Ko was emphatically up to the challenge.

After starting the final day three behind Shin, the Champion of 2008 and 2012, Ko improved her position with birdies at the 4th – courtesy of a glorious 25-foot putt – and 10th, where a classy pitch from the left rough left a tap-in.

The back nine was proving particularly difficult, but Ko picked up a further shot at the par-5 14th as she followed a sensational driver off the deck with another precise wedge.

Although a bogey followed at 15, the Paris 2024 gold medallist swiftly found herself in a share of the lead for the first time as Korda, who had forged ahead on eight-under, made a double-bogey on 14 to drop back alongside Ko and Shin.

That trio were soon joined on six-under by Vu, who followed back-to-back bogeys on the 10th and 11th by holing a huge birdie putt on the next and then birdieing the 14th to breathe new life into her title defence.

It was becoming hard to keep up with all of the changes at the top of the leaderboard and there would even have been five players on six-under had Yin not left two birdie putts agonisingly short following excellent approaches to the 17th and 18th.

The decisive moments ultimately came courtesy of Ko on 16, 17 and 18. A clutch par save on the first of those holes was followed by a superb 3-wood into 25 feet at the Road Hole, amid driving rain and a fierce headwind.

After two-putting for a crucial par, Ko then found exactly what was needed at the last, pitching in close before calmly converting a birdie putt in front of The R&A Clubhouse to set the target at seven-under.

Bogeys at 15 and 17 ended Shin’s fine challenge, while Korda also bogeyed the penultimate hole to slip two behind.

That left Vu, who made a gutsy par on the 17th, as the sole player who could force a play-off, but when the Champion of 2023 failed to convert a 20-footer for a three on the final hole, Ko’s amazing August had a fairytale finish.

Wonderful Woad the pick of the amateurs

Woad underlined her status as the leading player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking by claiming the Smyth Salver ahead of her appearance in the Curtis Cup at Sunningdale.

A final-round 73 saw the 20-year-old Englishwoman finish four shots clear of nearest rival Julia Lopez Ramirez and secure a top-10 Championship finish in the process.

Woad had to dig deep after a double-bogey at the 8th, but a birdie on the next hole epitomised her class and – with the Smyth Salver all but secured – she ended her week in suitably fine fashion with a final birdie on the 18th.

Before Woad had teed off, Lopez Ramirez birdied five of her first 10 holes to get to one-under, before slipping back as the winds proved challenging on the back nine.

The Spaniard nevertheless completed a one-under 71 to finish the week on three-over, four ahead of Louise Rydqvist (76) and seven clear of Ela Anacona (78).