On a hard fought final day it was Lydia Ko who claimed the 2024 AIG Women's Open title, her third Major, with a birdie on the last hole
When you get to the end of reading a very good book, you can often be left wanting more. That happy ending, a feel good feeling you got from it, you want to experience it again. Then you realise that there is a bonus chapter at the end, a preview of what's to come in the next book in the series. It whets your appetite for what is to come.
Why am I talking about books? Well, it all stems from the women's Olympic Golf competition two weeks ago. Ahead of the final two rounds, Lydia Ko watched the Simone Biles documentary 'Rising' and wrote down a quote in her yardage book from it - 'I get to write my own ending'. And that she did, she won Olympic gold and claimed the final point needed to enter the LPGA Hall of Fame.
In book terms, maybe this could be seen as the end of chapter but as such a defining moment in Ko's illustrious career, it brought questions of retirement and the completion of career goals. Some were so keen to finish the book, that they forgot to turn over a couple of pages to see that the book and Lydia weren't quite done yet.
The final round of the 2024 AIG Women's Open
At the start of Sunday and as endings to a Major go, there were plenty of happy ones that could potentially be shared - a title defence in Lilia Vu, a three-time AIGWO winner in Jiyai Shin, a double Major year for Nelly Korda or an Olympic gold and Major for Lydia Ko.
As the wind got up and some rain fell, the leading groups headed out onto the course. After the final group had gone through three holes, the leaderboard had already levelled up with defending Champion Lilia Vu and overnight leader Jiyai Shin sharing the lead at six-under-par and Lydia Ko and Nelly Korda one shot back.
Birdies dropped for three of the four, with Vu having nine straight pars on the front nine. As Shin and Vu made the turn, Korda had a one shot lead at eight-under-par with Shin one shot back and Ko and Vu sharing third at six-under-par.
Shin dropped a shot on 11 to be two back, whilst Ko would birdie 14 to get to within one of Korda, but a bogey on 15 saw Korda extend her lead to two shots. It might have seemed that Korda could make it two Major wins in a season but a double bogey on 14 brought the other three players right back into the mix.
When the final group had just three holes to play, all four of these players shared the lead at six-under-par.
Ko and her playing partner Alexa Pano were first to play 18 and afterwards we would find out that Ko's only aim had been to birdie the 18th, and that she did to take the clubhouse lead at seven-under-par. A disappointing bogey for Korda on 17 pretty much put her out of contention, whilst Shin did the same.
This then left Vu who stood on the 18th tee with a birdie opportunity to force a play-off. The defending champion wasn't able to get her chip close, so a nervy long putt for birdie came, it wasn't to be and then a further putt missed to see Vu disappointed to finish on a closing bogey. Finishing in second place alongside Korda, Shin and Ruoning Yin.
Lydia Ko: AIG Women's Open Champion
A third Major victory just two weeks after her Olympic gold, something that Ko found hard to comprehend and those who thought they had finished the book realised that the next one in the series was just starting to be written.
I decided to use a book analogy, the 2024 AIG Women's Open used a gas station on the way to your final destination, but hopefully we all now know that Lydia Ko is far from done:
"I don't think there's a word in the dictionary that can explain what just happened. But somebody put it into perspective before I won the Gold, they said, try to think of like getting into the Hall of Fame as like a gas station on the way to my final destination and not like my final destination.
"I think for a while, that was my goal. I was making it seem like, okay, that was my end point, and I think after hearing that, that put it into perspective of saying, you know, what it's not like I'm going to get in the Hall of Fame and say, "Bye-bye, Golf."
"I'm still planning to play. I think that just make it easier to say, you know, if it's going to happen, it's going to happen, and I'm also going to focus on what's in front of me. I think this past three weeks was kind of like a representation of that scale."
Lottie Woad wins the Smyth Salver
Finally, a special mention must go to England's Lottie Woad (-1) who claimed the Smyth Salver which is given to the highest ranked amateur, she adds that to her Augusta National Women's Amateur title from April.
St Andrews was always going to be the perfect venue to host the AIG Women's Open. It will take a bit of time to reflect on the week we have had but one thing is for sure, let's not wait 11 years before we do it all again!
View the full AIG Women's Open leaderboard here.
