Meadow seventh and Maguire 23rd as Nelly underlines No 1 status with gold
SAITAMA, JAPAN - AUGUST 07: (L-R) Mone Inami, Nelly Korda and Lydia Ko at the Victory Ceremony after the final round of the Women’s Individual Stroke Play. Photo by Stan Badz/PGA TOUR/IGF)
Stephanie Meadow finished a brilliant seventh after a closing 66, and Leona Maguire tied 23rd as world No 1 Nelly Korda confirmed her status as the game's best player by claiming Olympic gold in a heart-stopping finale to the Women's Individual Stroke Play in Tokyo.
Tied for 10th overnight, five shots outside third place, the Jordanstown star would finish just four strokes outside the podium on 12-under par as Korda shot 69 to win by a shot on 17-under from Japan's Inami Mone, who edged out New Zealand's Lydia Ko with a par at the first extra hole to claim the silver after both had closed with six-under 65s.
It was a super performance for the Irish duo as Maguire, tipped as Ireland's best hope of a medal, roared home in 32 and fired a 71 to share 23rd on five under.
In the end, Meadow went closest to a medal, knocking in an 18 footer for par at the 18th for a bogey-free 66 at Kasumigaseki Country Club.
That she finished on 12-under was an amazing feat considering she had to make a 25 footer for par on the 12th hole of her opening round to avoid slipping to four-over-par.
"It's funny to look back on that point, that putt goes in and all of a sudden I'm 12-under so, it's been a great week," said Meadow, who birdied the seventh and eighth to turn in two-under in the final round before picking up further shots with birdies at the 12th, 14th and 17th.
"I've played some really good golf over the last few days. I'm really happy with that and just overall to finish top 10 in the Olympics, which is something I'll cherish forever.
Having struggled to find form this season, she’s looking to push on now after following a top-30 finish at the Evian Championship with a top-10 at the Olympics.
"It's an interesting mentality here,” Meadow said. "There's no cut, and all you think about is getting a medal, so I think I might take some of that and set the sights higher and kind of focus on that and let nothing else slow you down. That's something I've learned from this week and hope to take on to the next coming weeks."
As for her teammate, hopes of a final-round charge from the world No 50 Maguire were dashed as she dropped back to two-under following early bogeys at the fourth, fifth and seventh.
But the dogged Co Cavan star (26) refused to give up and raced home in 32 as he made birdies at the 12th, 13th, 16th and 17th before dropping a shot at the 18th.
"I mean, I think it's a week of what could have been," said Maguire, who got to within a shot of the podium on eight-under after eight holes of her third round but played her final 29 holes in three-over.
"There were flashes of medal golf in there, just not enough of it. I'll take the positives from it. I played a great front nine yesterday and a great back nine today.
"I kind of got it going on the back today. I figured out a few things with my driver. I just didn't drive the ball well enough this week, got on the wrong side of a few slopes and things like that. It was a week of near misses and what could have been, but at the same time hung in well to still post a score."
She now heads for the Scottish Open and the AIG Women's Open looking to cement her place on the Solheim Cup team.
"It's not going to be your week every week," Leona added. "But at the same time, I'll finish 20-something out of the best field in golf so. It's still early on in my LPGA career. I'll learn what I can from this week and take it into the next two. We've two big weeks coming with the Scottish and Open, so just keep trying to keep myself in contention and keep knocking on the door."
Just as Meadow signed her card, play was suspended due to a dangerous situation with three groups remaining out on the course.
Korda held a one-shot advantage over Mone while India's Aditi Ashok and Ko were tied for the bronze medal. Play resumed after a one-hour delay with Korda securing the gold with two closing pars.
India's Ashok had to settle for fourth on 15-under after a 68 as Imani bogeyed the last and shot 65 to finish tied second on 16-under with Ko, who had a 35 footer on the 18th to tie for the lead with Korda but came up four feet short.
Korda (23) took gold to make it an Olympic double for the USA after Xander Schauffele won the men's competition last Sunday.
Her sister Jessica (28) closed with a best of the day 64 to tied for 15th on nine-under and ran onto the green to celebrate with her.
"This is just kind of like almost legend status as a golfer, period, male or female," Jessica said of Nelly, who has now won three of the last four individual events.
"It's tough to win out here, and she makes it look easy, but those girls are good. So for her to be doing, it's insane to me. This is like total GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) status to me."
Mone won the playoff for silver when Ko found a bunker off the tee on the 18th and missed a 10-foot par putt after being forced to lay up, forcing her to settle for bronze after winning silver in 2016 in Rio to become the only golfer to win medals in both Olympics since golf returned after a 112-year absence.
As for Korda, she started with a three-shot lead, fell back into a tie for first after a double bogey at the short seventh but then birdied the eighth from 25 feet and added further birdies at the ninth and 10th to re-establish a three-shot cushion before playing her last eight holes in level par.
Asked if she would have believed it if someone had told her at the start of the year, she would win her first major, go to No. 1 in the world and become an Olympic champion, Korda laughed.
"No, I would tell the person to leave," she joked. "Yeah, honestly, it's crazy. I think about it now, and it's -- you know, with sports, it's so different because you're constantly looking ahead, you're constantly looking ahead for your next event, one event you finish, and next is like it's British or it's Scottish.
"So like it never really gets to kind of sink in, in a sense. So I think I'll look back at the season after the season is done, but right now, there's still a lot of big events coming up, but when I do look back, it's just crazy.”
