Key events
Lydia Ko cards 69!
No bother for Lydia Ko! She strokes in the left-to-right downhill slider, and that’s a final round of 69! She sets a mark that Nelly Korda and Lilia Vu may not be able to match! A fair chance that Ko has just made the winning putt.
-7: Ko (F)
-6: Korda (16), Vu (15)
Lydia Ko, the new Olympic champion, hits a golden shot into 18. Over the flag, spinning back to five feet. It’ll be a notoriously slippery downhill putt – poor old Doug Sanders – but it’s the one Lottie Woad made. Very gettable. Meanwhile back on 17, Nelly Korda can only splash out from the Road Hole bunker to 15 feet, but that’s pretty much as good as she could do with the restricted backswing and the lie, and hey, it could have been so much better. Two huge putts coming up.
Lydia Ko finds the middle of the fairway on 18. She crosses the Swilcan Bridge with a big smile on her face. Not looking so happy: Nelly Korda, who sends her tee shot at 17 into the thick rough down the left, then her second into the Road Hole bunker. The ball only just topples in, and she might not have much room for a backswing. Also slightly concerned: Lilia Vu, whose drive at 16 scampers into the rough on the left. She might have copped a good lie, though. We’ll see. But at the moment, it’s advantage Ko.
Lydia Ko’s putt, from the shoulder of the Road Hole bunker, never looks like dropping. But that’s a fine par at a notoriously treacherous hole. Nelly Korda can’t make her birdie effort on 16. Lilia Vu nearly drains another monster, this time across 15, but her effort lips out. However Vu’s playing partner Jiyai Shin blinks at the wrong time: a three-putt bogey, though the big mistake was a miscalculated approach that bounded miles past the flag.
-6: Ko (17), Korda (16), Vu (15)
-5: Yin (F), Jiyai Shin (15)
With the rain coming down in sheets, Lydia Ko whips a glorious fairway wood into the heart of the 17th green. Fifteen, maybe 20 feet from the flag. One of the shots of the week. The shot of the week? It will be if she ends up winning this title. Big birdie chance coming up. Back on 16, Nelly Korda sets one up for herself, pin high and 12 feet away.
Ruoning Yin sets up another birdie chance on 18. Once again her putt stops one dimple short of dropping. So close and yet so far. She’s the new clubhouse leader after a fine closing round of 70, but the drained look on her face speaks volumes. She knows the cost of those two putts that failed to drop at 17 and 18. An inch combined, a couple of joules of energy short. She’s back in the big house at -5. Probably not quite good enough, but with the rain beginning to fall and the wind picking up, you never know.
Lydia Ko gets up and down from the back of 16. Nelly Korda takes two putts from distance on 15 for a nerve-settling par. Ruoning Yin’s birdie effort on 17 stops on the very edge of the cup; just (just!) a par at the Road Hole. Jiyai Shin is forced to splash out sideways from the fairway bunker, but then gets up and down from the front of 14 for par. And Lilia Vu makes her birdie, so suddenly there’s a four-way tie at the top … and all of them world number ones at some point in their career!
-6: Ko (16), Korda (15), Vu (14), Jiyai Shin (14)
-5: Yin (17)
-3: Jutanugarn (F)
Lottie Woad wins Smyth Salver as low amateur
Lottie Woad, the 20-year-old sensation from Surrey, has a silver medal to go along with her Augusta National title! She steers in the left-to-right downhill birdie putt on 18, and ends the week in red figures at -1. Woad looks forward to a glorious career tossing her orb about. (A treat for the Withnail heads there.)
Ruoning Yin is making a late run for the title. The 2023 PGA Champion draws a lovely second into the Road Hole and will have a good look at birdie. Lilia Vu sets up a great chance too, wedging to six feet on 14. And there’ll be a look at birdie from similar distance for Lottie Woad on 18. She’s got the silver medal in the bag now, whatever happens, but what a way to finish if she can make that.
Lydia Ko’s second into 16 takes a huge kick forward. Long and left, and snagged in some filthy rough. Back on 15, Nelly Korda splits the fairway. And further back on 14, Jiyai Shin finds a fairway bunker with shot number two, while Lilia Vu lays up comfortably. Good luck correctly predicting the outcome of this one.
Nelly Korda prods with great uncertainty at her bogey putt. It dies off to the right and that’s a double-bogey seven. All of a sudden this tournament, which looked like Korda’s for the taking, is back in the balance! As she departs the green, she effs and jeffs in the irritated style. No wonder: the world number one looked in complete control of her game, only for the wheels to suddenly clank off.
-6: Ko (15), Korda (14), Jiyai Shin (13)
-5: Yin (16), Vu (13)
-3: Jutanugarn (F)
Lydia Ko gives her par putt a good confident run, but it doesn’t drop. She slips back to -6, and Nelly Korda’s lead is once again two strokes. But for how long? Not too long, it would seem, because Korda’s chip up from the back of 14 is underhit, not quite getting up a bank and toppling back down the swale. She chips up again, and nearly holes out, but the ball rolls three feet past and that’s a little tester to limit the damage to bogey.
Trouble for Lydia Ko, who sends her second at 15 into a greenside pot bunker. She does well to smash out to 15 feet, taking a full face’s worth of sand in doing so. But that’s a big putt coming up. However there’s some bother for Nelly Korda back on the par-five 14th; her third, from thick gorse, flies through the green and over the back. Big up-and-down coming up, too.
Any faint chance Jeeno Thitikul had is extinguished on 15. A par putt horseshoes out and the former world number one drops to -3.
A bogey-birdie finish for Ariya Jutanugarn. The 2016 champion signs for a final round of 70 and becomes the new clubhouse leader at -3. Meanwhile two no-fuss putts for Nelly Korda on 13, and she remains one clear of Lydia Ko.
This isn’t over yet, though. Lydia Ko fires her second at 14 straight at the flag, then teases in the right-to-left six-footer for a birdie that takes her to within a shot of the lead. Then up on 15, birdie for Ruoning Yin, and suddenly a tournament that was beginning to feel like a procession is very much back in the balance!
-8: Korda (12)
-7: Ko (14)
-6: Jiyai Shin (12)
-5: Yin (15), Vu (12)
Lottie Woad nearly drains a birdie putt on 15 from 108 feet. Tap in for par. She’s level, and one step closer to that silver medal. Meanwhile in other monster-putt news, Lilia Vu sends a 60-footer up and across the warped LP that is the 12th green to love back to within three shots at -5. Turns out playing quickly can benefit one’s game.
Birdie for Jeeno Thitikul at 14. She joins the group at -4. But right now it all seems futile, because Nelly Korda is in the zone. The leader finds 13 in regulation and will have another look at birdie. She doesn’t look like making a mistake right now. In total control of her game. Mind you, major-championship golf and all that. Meanwhile the final group have been told to hurry up.
Lilia Vu is usually such a dependable putter. But the flat stick is suddenly betraying the defending champ. The camber of the green at the par-three 11th takes her tee shot well wide right. She misreads a big right-to-left swinger, sending the putt eight feet past. Then she knocks the one coming back four feet past. She does pretty well to knock in her third putt and limit the damage. But that’s back-to-back bogeys. Meanwhile a similar story for her playing partner Jiyai Shin: a tee shot sent wide right of the flag, then three putts. All of a sudden, Nelly Korda has a little cushion at the top of the leaderboard.
-8: Korda (12)
-6: Ko (13), Jiyai Shin (11)
-4: Yin (14), Vu (11)
Birdie for Ariya Jutanugarn on 16. The two-time major winner returns to -3. A couple of pars home, and she’ll be the new clubhouse leader. One of those holes being the Road Hole, that’s easier said than done of course. And that’s before you factor in the wind, which is beginning to seriously blow.
Welcome to the start of the 2024 Women’s Open, as the final pair hit the turn on major-championship Sunday. It’s not good news for the defending champion. Lilia Vu, having parred every hole on the front nine, makes bogey at 10, seriously undercooking a long birdie putt. The misjudgement knocks her back to -5. Par for her playing partner Jiyai Shin.
-8: Korda (11)
-7: Jiyai Shin (10)
-6: Ko (12)
-5: Vu (10)
-4: Yin (13)
-3: Saigo (14), Thitikul (13), Jenny Shin (11)
A lucky break for Nelly Korda, who catches a good lie in the Strath bunker. But you still need a magic touch to get close, which she does, despite being short-sided. A delicate splash out, perfectly judged over the face and over a ridge, the ball rolling down to kick-in distance. That’s a wonderful shot, and what a sandy par. She’s not world number one for nothing. She remains one in front at -8. Another bogey for her playing partner Jenny Shin, though, and at -3 her race looks run.
… so having said that, Nelly Korda dumps her tee shot at 11 into the pot bunker guarding the front of the green. The Strath bunker, named after Davie Strath, a late-19th-century pro who didn’t much like going in it. The great Bobby Jones had his issues there too, as related in this old Joy of Six. God speed, Nelly.
… he ripped his scorecard into tiny pieces, sent them scattering into the breeze, and stomped off wearing a look later described by onlookers as “puzzled dislike” …
It’s three birdies in four holes for the world number one Nelly Korda! Despite the wind whipping around the Old Course, she makes golf look so easy as she saunters down the 10th. A smooth drive, a gentle second pin high to 12 feet, the putt calmly rolled in. No hesitation, no faff, playing completely within herself. Her playing partner Jenny Shin should make birdie too, after a stunning second to four feet, but Shin allows the wind to get inside her head, and when she eventually pulls the trigger, the ball squirts wide right. Korda’s lead-stretching birdie probably didn’t help either, to be fair.
-8: Korda (10)
-7: Jiyai Shin (8)
-6: Ko (11), Vu (8)
-4: Yin (12), Jenny Shin (10)
Lydia Ko does not like the par-three 11th. At all. Bogey on Thursday, bogey on Friday, bogey on Saturday. It looks like she’ll make it a full house of misery as the strong wind nearly knocks her off her feet while standing over a four-foot par saver … but she steps away, waits for the gust to die down a bit, and eventually rams in the putt. That’s a brilliant save, and she remains at -6.
Jiyai Shin can’t take advantage of her fine tee shot at 8. Her eight-foot birdie effort shoved wide right. She hops in irritation; still smiling though. She’s always smiling.
Another birdie for Nelly Korda! She pours one in from 12 feet on 9 to hit the turn in 34. Meanwhile birdie for Lydia Ko up on 10. And back on 8, Jiyai Shin sends a forensic iron straight at the flag, and she’ll have a look at birdie from eight feet or so. After a slow start, this is bubbling up deliciously.
-7: Korda (9), Jiyai Shin (7)
-6: Ko (10), Vu (7)
-4: Yin (12), Jenny Shin (9)
The 54-hole leader has gone on to win the Women’s Open in each of the last five stagings. Jiyai Shin is naturally desirous of keeping that run going, and she fist-pumps the air after pinging her second at 7 to six feet and nailing the putt. The birdie – the first in the final pairing – gives her sole leadership of the tournament again.
-7: Jiyai Shin (7)
-6: Korda (8), Vu (7)
-5: Ko (9)
-4: Yin (11), Jenny Shin (8)
-3: Saigo (13), Jutanugarn (13), Thitikul (10)
-2: Iwai (F), Alexander (13), Pano (9)
Lottie Woad misses a short putt on 12 and slips back to level par. She’s still got a three-stroke cushion on fellow amateur Julia Lopez Ramirez, who is in the clubhouse at +3. But the battle for the Smyth Salver continues to bubble away.
Jenny Shin pulls her tee shot wide left of the par-three 8th. She does well to chip up to four feet, but the par putt is pulled as well. A gust of wind might have put her off there. She slips back to -4, two off the pace.
We have a new clubhouse leader. Anne van Dam held the position for three hours, at level par, but Akie Iwai has put her name at the bottom of a card of 69 and ends her week at -2. That’ll be surpassed, but not, you might suspect, by too many shots, given the way the wind is whipping around the Old Course at the minute.
