Lydia Ko is playing for two things that no one else is this week at the women’s golf competition at the Olympics, but she’s still trying to embrace the entire experience — even signing autographs while finishing up her second round.
Through 36 holes Ko, of New Zealand, is just three back of the lead — held by Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux — but ahead by one for the bronze medal.
If Ko, a multi-time major champion and former world No. 1, was to medal this week in Paris she would be the only person (male or female) to medal in golf at each of the three modern editions having won silver in 2016 and bronze in 2021.
And an Olympic medal will also earn her the final point she needs to get into the LPGA Tour’s Hall of Fame — at just 27 years old.
Ko has had a bit of an inconsistent run through the summertime after blasting out of the gates in January. She won the first event of the season on the LPGA Tour and then lost in a playoff in the second. Prior to last week’s tie for eighth at the CPKC Women’s Open in Calgary, however, her last top-10 finish on Tour was in March.
With Ko just trying to string four solid rounds together recently, the Hall of Fame hasn’t necessarily been on her mind. But this week in Paris, on the biggest global stage in the game, it’s very much come to the forefront again.
“Being one win away is definitely a much better feeling than two,” Ko said. “Yes, you’re closer but at the same time, it’s, like, I only need to win one rather than two. So honestly it hasn’t been stressing me out that much but at the same time I haven’t really been in contention that much to have that lingering in my mind all the time.”
“It’s really cool that if I did win the gold, I could get in the Hall of Fame, and it would stop all these questions in the future,” she added with a smile.
Ko will be in Friday’s final group alongside Metraux and China’s Ruoning Yin, who shot a 7-under 65 Thursday — the first bogey-free round of the competition — is at 7 under and one back of Metraux.
Metraux fired a sizzling 8-under 28, with two eagles, on her front nine. She made three bogeys on her back nine to come in with a 6-under 66 but is still in the top spot heading into the final two rounds.
“I’ve worked a lot on my game in the last week, and obviously prior to that, but last week I did a lot of good work. And I was feeling good about what I was doing. I just didn’t realize it was going to be good,” Metraux said. “I didn’t know the golf course until Monday. It’s all very new for me. But it’s simple in a way that you know that you just have to hit fairways and greens here.”
World No. 1 Nelly Korda was adhering to that exact plan through 15 holes Thursday and was tied for the lead before a disastrous end to her day. She made a quadruple bogey on the par-3 16th and another bogey on the penultimate hole of the day (she birdied the par-5 18th to salvage things a little) and those two unfortunate marks on the scorecard have left her six shots back as she looks to defend her gold medal from Japan.
Scottie Scheffler, the world No. 1 on the men’s side whose season has long been compared to Korda’s as he has six wins on the PGA Tour and she has the same on the LPGA Tour this year, managed to come back to win gold in the men’s competition and Korda said she’s trying to channel that for her final two days at Le Golf National.
“I played 16 holes of really, really solid golf,” Korda said of her second round. “But I still have 36 more holes, and anything can happen. I’m trying to see the positive in this. Scottie came back, shot 9-under (in the final round) and he won.
“If you’re hitting your shots, then you’re staying present, and I think anything can happen.”
Canadians Brooke Henderson and Alena Sharp are tied through two rounds at 3 over, with Sharp struggling to a 4-over 76 on Thursday and Henderson shooting a turbulent 1-over 73.
Henderson struggled with the putter in her second round, missing five putts of less than 10 feet — including a two-footer for birdie on No. 9 which careened off the flagstick, which she leaves in for almost every putt. She made a double bogey early, added birdies on Nos. 12 and 13 to get to 1 under for the day but bogeyed both par fives on the back nine, Nos. 14 and 18 — after hitting it in the water.
Henderson said she wasn’t “totally confident” with the read on No. 9 and hit the putt a little too hard.
“It was a little on me, but also, a little unfortunate for it to bounce out. That was my day today. Just wasn’t 100 percent on,” Henderson said. “I did see glimpses of the good stuff, so hopefully more of the good stuff this weekend.
“I’m getting more and more comfortable with the golf course. Hit it to smart spots (over the next two days) and try to take advantage when you can […] hopefully get it back to even or under par and go from there.
Henderson will play alongside a pair of major champions in the third round, Patty Tavatanakit of Thailand and Georgia Hall of Great Britain. Sharp is with Azahara Munoz of Spain and Hyo Joo Kim of South Korea.
They will need to make up lots of ground heading into the final two days in order to challenge for a medal, but as Korda said, anything can happen.
And for Ko, who is in that bronze position — and in position to make history — she’s hoping to keep doing what she’s been doing.
“I feel like if it’s going to happen, whether it’s in Paris or in Florida or in Scotland, it’s going to happen,” Ko said of the potential to make it into the Hall of Fame. “And I’m just excited that I have this opportunity.”
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