There was nothing easy about this final round for Korda, even starting with a three-shot lead. She fell into a tie for the lead, rebuilt it to three shots early on the back nine and then closed with six pars as three players made a bold run at her.
That list include Aditi Ashok of India, at an extreme disadvantage all week with her lack of distance off the tee, some of that brought on by a bout with COVID-19 this summer. With her magic touch on the greens — she one-putted the entire front nine — the 23-year-old with her mother as her caddie stayed in the mix all day.
Ashok’s 12-foot birdie putt to keep pace with Ko burned the edge of the cup on the 17th hole, and she needed a 25-foot birdie putt on the 18th to stay in medal contention. That slid by the hole.
“I didn’t leave anything out there. I think I gave it my 100%,” Ashok said. “But yeah, fourth in the Olympics where they give out three medals kind of sucks.”
One came on the 18th hole of the second round when she needed a birdie for a 59. Korda and her caddie did not realize the tee box was 30 yards forward, leading to the wrong club and wrong line into the rough behind a tree.
The other was Saturday on the par-3 seventh when her tee shot went left into a collection area. It took Korda three chips to get onto the green, and the double bogey dropped her into a tie with Ko and Ashok.
All three birdied the par-5 eighth — Korda with a 25-foot putt that was as big as any — and Korda ran off birdies at the next two holes to restore her three-shot lead.
“I told myself there’s still a lot of golf to be left and I’m very proud of how I handled the next three holes, or even just the entire round after that,” Korda said.
Inami, Ko and Ashok all whittled away until they ran out of holes and Korda was left with a shiny gold medal and a future brighter than ever.
