How Henderson’s putter let her down late as Ko makes history in women’s Olympic golf
Brooke Henderson had a real chance at a medal. A real chance to add to Canada’s record-setting total. She kept giving herself scoring opportunities and certainly didn’t leave Le Golf National frustrated with her tee-to-green effort.
An ice-cold putter on her back nine, however, left Henderson short of the podium at the women’s golf competition while New Zealand’s Lydia Ko made history — winning gold to complete her Olympic-medal collection, and with the first-place finish, earn a spot in the LPGA Hall of Fame at just 27.
Esther Henseleit of Germany won the silver after a tremendous 6-under 66 in the final round, while Janet Lin of China won the bronze.
Ko, who won the first event of the LPGA Tour season to get within one point of the Hall of Fame, topped Henseleit by two and Lin by three.
“It’s definitely a life peak for me here. I don’t think I’ve experienced this kind of adrenaline before, and to do it here, it really can’t get any better,” said Ko, who confirmed Saturday she would not compete in another Olympics.
“To win the first event of the year… that took the pressure off, and I knew that if I worked on the right things, that one tournament could happen at any point. Did I imagine that I was going to do it at the Paris Olympics? Probably not. But this is definitely the coolest way to do it.”
Ko, who earned her first two Hall of Fame points at the CPKC Women’s Open, has been beaten by just three golfers at the Olympics over a span of eight years. Her first LPGA Tour win came when she was just 15 – and it happened in Canada.
