Olympic golf is here — Where does Lydia Ko keep her medals?
By Addie Parker
The IX: Golf Thursday with Addie Parker, Aug. 8, 2024
Welcome back to Golf Thursday! Round two of the Women’s Olympic golf is underway at Le Golf National and things are already heating up — but let’s recap day one news.
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Hometown hero Celine Boutier had a huge opening day, firing a 7-under 65 to please the French crowd and maintaining her odds of bringing home the gold.
The round one clubhouse leader carded eight birdies on the day, and basically didn’t miss a putt (she made over 120 feet worth of putts!!!).
Boutier was pleased, to say the least at the end of her round, saying, “I’m really over the moon with the way the tournament started for me,” Boutier said. “I definitely wasn’t sure what to expect today, but I was able to take advantage of a few opportunities out there. I feel good about my round, and hopefully, (I can) keep going for the next few days.”
Mexico’s Gaby Lopez had a late afternoon charge on the final stretch of holes charging her way up the leaderboard.
Lopez hit a lull amid her round dropping costly shots on the ninth and twelfth holes, but credited another fiery competitor for pulling herself out of the bogey hole she had been digging. “Novak Djokovic says it all the time: ‘It’s not how or what we have or what we get, it’s how we react,’” she said. “I made a really hurtful mistake and 12 is just really hard, and you know, mistakes are going to come.
“You’ve just got to stay calm and kind of talk to yourself very nicely and very kindly.”
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She rallied birdies on the 16th, 17th, and 18th holes putting her in a tie for third place at the end of round one.
Leading the way for the Americans was Lilia Vu, who ended the day at 2-under par in a tie for third, followed by Rose Zhang and Nelly Korda who finished at even par.
Other notable names in the mix during round one were 2022 AIG Open champ Ashleigh Buhai of South Africa, Minjee Lee of Australia, and Aditi Ashok of India.
Starting bright and early on day two, Morgane Metraux of Switzerland was not playing around.
The world thought Scottie Scheffler was playing lights out on the back nine with a 29 during the men’s final round, but I raise you a Metraux 28!!!!!!
At one point Metraux had a commanding three-shot lead but Boutier has an entire nation behind her, willing her way to the top of that podium.
As for now, we can assume that the chase for gold is in the hands of the French or the Swiss but not so fast…Lydia Ko is knocking on the door and has the chance to go for a third medal in her third Olympic showing. She’s been making some important birdies early on during the second round that could propel her right into medal contention.
As for Team USA: I believe that Korda will kick it into gear during the second and third rounds. Our chances to medal are slim but never zero!
Follow along with all the drama from Le Golf National here. Happy watching!
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This week in women’s golf
If you have links you wish to share for Golf Thursday, sources for golf news, or want to talk about anything at all, you can email me at addieparker25@theixsports.com ! Discussion of any kind is always welcome…I mean it…MESSAGE ME!
LPGA News
Five things to know about the Paris Olympics: Women’s golf edition
Five things to know about Nelly Korda’s chase for a second gold medal at Paris Olympics
LET News
History-maker Shannon Tan Looks to Emulate Scottie Scheffler’s Approach on Olympics Debut
Epson Tour News
Meet the Olympians from the Epson Tour
NCAA/Amateur News
After NCAA settlement agreement, these big changes are coming to college golf
Five at The IX: Where does two-time Olympian, Lydia Ko, keep her medals?
THE MODERATOR: I am pleased to be joined by the two-time Olympic Medalist Lydia Ko competing in her third Olympic Women’s Golf Competition.
Welcome to Paris. Just overall what’s it like to be back at your third Games?
LYDIA KO: Yeah, you know, I’m obviously super excited to represent New Zealand again for my third Olympics. You know, the Olympics come around every four years, Tokyo being kind of the exception. But yeah, it’s amazing that this is going to be my third.
Time has gone by quick. To have been able to medal in the past two Games, I feel very fortunate about that and excited to give it a good run again this week.
Q: What are your thoughts so for on Le Golf National?
LYDIA KO: Tricky. I think it’s going to be the toughest Olympics as of yet. Rio and Tokyo had a very different feeling. This is a very different golf course to that as well. When I saw the men play and the scores that they were shooting I was very impressed because that wasn’t the initial kind of scores that I was expecting.
But you know, it is tricky and I think a lot of the players were saying last week that the first couple — if you could get through the first couple holes and finish well the last few holes, the middle you can play with and that’s what I’ve seen out there. Even though it is tricky, it’s the same playing field for everyone.
So I’m just going to hopefully play strategically but at the same time aggressively because all of us that are competing in a tournament, and it’s a slightly different mindset to our usual event on tour.
Q. Are you more proud of your Silver than your Bronze? How do you think about the two of them?
LYDIA KO: I think I’m proud of both. Very different circumstances. Being in that playoff for either the Silver or the Bronze in Tokyo, and if I go down this road of what I could have done better or should have done better, it’s kind of like an endless cat-and-mouse situation there.
I would say both the Silver and Bronze would be up there alongside some of my other wins. We were saying, I think Yuka was saying as well, most of the time, we’re playing, everyone only remembers who won that week. Nobody really remembers someone came second or third.
That’s the great thing about the Olympics is you’re a Gold Medallist, Silver Medalist and Bronze Medalist, and you’re not, like, second behind so-and-so and third behind someone. It celebrates each and every Olympian here, and I think for all 120 of us over the past couple weeks that have qualified to be here, I think it’s a huge win.
Growing up, I didn’t think I would be able to call my off-season an Olympian, and to say I’m a three-time Olympian, it’s definitely something I’m proud of.
Q. Where do you keep your medals?
LYDIA KO: Somebody asked me this, and it’s really weird because I haven’t seen the medals since I won both of the medals.
But I’m pretty sure the Tokyo medal is somewhere in my sister’s apartment, and the Rio Silver is in my dad’s closet. So they are in very treasured places, just not with me.
Q. If your sister has the Silver and your dad has the bronze, who gets the Gold?
LYDIA KO: If I win the Gold, I’m definitely taking all of them back and I’m going to find a way to kind of present all three.
Yeah, but I don’t really have, like, a good place to store it right now. Like, my trophy room in Orlando also has a golf net and, like, my workout stuff. Because it used to be a trophy room but then COVID made me use it into, like, a home gym. It’s very crowded in there and getting musty in there. I think if I do win the Gold, I might actually have to maybe get a new home or get a proper thing to kind of, like, honour it.
But it’s a long way from now but it’s definitely a good dream and something that I can think of.
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