ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Lydia Ko secured her third major title — and first in eight years — by breaking away from a crowd of world-class talent to win the Women’s British Open at the home of golf on Sunday, capping a summer that also included gold at the Olympics.
The 27-year-old New Zealander holed a left-to-right birdie putt on the historic 18th hole of the Old Course at St. Andrews to finish at 3-under-par 69 and then had to wait to finish ahead of top seed Nelly Korda, defending champion Lilia Vu and two-time champion Jiyai Shin.
This quartet of former and current number ones shared the lead at times in the final sprint of a thrilling final round that was contested in cold, stormy and wet weather before ending in sunshine.
Ko had already finished her round and was waiting near the 18th green, doing stretches with earmuffs on, when Vu lined up a 20-foot putt for a birdie that should have gone in to force a playoff. The putt was not enough, and Vu ultimately made bogey, shooting 73 strokes and falling to 5 under par along with Korda, Shin and also Ruoning Yin.
It was a golden summer for Ko, who qualified for the Hall of Fame by winning the gold medal at the Olympic Games in Paris and now holds the ultimate trophy in the sport: a major championship title in the home of golf.
She won her last major title in 2016 at the Chevron Championship. A year earlier, as an 18-year-old prodigy, she had won the Evian Championship.
