New Zealand's Lydia Ko shot a final round 69 to win the Women's Open by two shots after a wet and windy week on the Old Course at St Andrews.
It is the third major tournament for Ko, who won the 2015 Evian Championship and the 2016 Chevron Championship, and the first time a New Zealander has won the Women's Open.
The 27-year-old has had a fantastic month at St Andrews having already won a gold medal at the Paris Olympics earning him enough points to be inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame.
“It's been crazy the last few weeks,” Ko said. “Something happened that was too good to be true, and I honestly didn't think it could get any better and I'm here as the Women's Open Champion this week.
“Being here on the Old Course at St Andrews makes it very special. I just loved being there this week. I had many family members here with me. I played here when I was 16 in 2013.
“I don't think I should get too excited and see how beautiful this place is, and now that I'm older and hopefully a little wiser, I just understand what this golf course is and what it is. , and honestly it has been such a legend. I'm on cloud nine.”
WATER AND AIR
It was a tough final day with players battling wet and windy conditions as Ko started the day four shots behind 54-hole leader Jiyai Shin.
The Olympic champion rolled in his first birdie of the day on the fourth hole before adding more on 10 and 14. He shot 15, but finished in style, making a birdie at the end to cheers from the clubhouse crowd for a seven-under-par lead which ended up being the winning number.
“At 16, I started to know that I was arrested,” explained Ko. “Then my goal was to make par on 17 and make birdie on 18, something I hadn't done all week”.
“I accomplished and accomplished all the little goals, and I think that made me focus a little more on what was in front of me instead of whether I was going to win or not.”
Four players finished the week tied for second place with Jiyai Shin, Lilia Vu and Nelly Korda, and Ruoning Yin all at five-under-par.
Korda has two shots on par at 14, but a costly double-bogey seven on that hole, after not more than 60 yards from the double hole, proved too costly, as did a bogey on the 17th where he got the I -Road Hole bunker with his second shot and made bogey.
Not far down the leaderboard, in a tie for 10th place, world No. 1 scholarship winner Lottie Woad underlined that status with a final round 73 to seal a four-shot victory over Spain's Julia Lopez Ramirez in the race. with the Smyth Salver prize for the best student.
More impressively, the 20-year-old from Farnham shot 287, one under par, to become the top European player – amateur or professional – alongside Linn Grant of Sweden and Nanna Koerstz Madsen of Denmark.
First-round leader Charley Hull shot a weekend-long 75 to finish tied for 20th, while Solheim Cup star Georgia Hall shot back to +2 in a tie for 22nd after closing with a 71 to add -4-over 76 for Saturday.
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