Olympics Golf Results: South Korea’s Inbee Park wins gold
By Brad Weiss
The 2016 Rio Olympics Women’s golf tournament came to a close on Saturday, as South Korea’s Inbee Park took the gold medal.
Women’s golf returned to the Olympics for the first time since 1900, when American Margaret Abbott won a gold bowl for finishing first. Now, 116 years later, South Korea’s Inbee Park is the second woman to ever win gold in golf at the Olympics. Park was consistent the entire tournament, sealing her victory with an amazing round on Saturday.
After beginning the tournament with back-to-back 5-under-66 rounds, Park was pretty pedestrian on Friday. She fired a 1-under-70 but still held the lead heading into Saturday. In Round 4, Park ran away from the competition, winning the gold by five strokes.
Incredibly, Park had not made a single cut since April, and this was her first competition since June. Park held the lead after Round 2 and 3 and was able to finish off the victory on Saturday. She finished the tournament at 16-under par.
The big mover on the day Friday was Lydia Ko, the number one ranked women’s golfer in the world. The 19-year old shot a 6-under-65, moving to within two shots of Park for the lead. However, she did not play well enough to close the gap on Park in Round 4, and had to settle for a silver medal.
The bronze was won by Shanshan Feng from China, who shot a 2-under-69 on Saturday to secure the medal. She was tied with Ko for silver heading into the 18th but made a three-putt par as Ko sank a birdie.
MEDAL RESULT | Women's Individual Golf
The round of the day belonged to Maria Verchenova, who carded a 9-under-62. She moved up 25 spots on the leaderboard throughout the day, finishing the tournament 4-under par.
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The Rio Olympics golf competition is now finished, and bringing back the sport to the Games was a great idea. The two events made for incredible golf, and hopefully, in 2020, some of the bigger names in the men’s game compete.