No. 1-ranked Nelly Korda delivered Team USA its second golf gold medal of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on Saturday. Korda's gold medal victory comes nearly one week after the fifth-ranked men's golfer in the world, Xander Schauffele, captured the top prize in the the men's competition.
Korda, who also claimed the Women's PGA Championship back in June, posted a 17-under 267 across four rounds to claim a one-shot victory over Japan's Mone Inami and Australia's Lydia Ko. Inami and Ko posted matching 16-under 268s to finish with silver and bronze, respectively, as the pair competed in a playoff for the silver medal.
"It's crazy," Korda said after the win."It sounds absurd that I'm a gold medal [winner]. and I'm an Olympian. I don't know it just hasn't sunk in yet."
Ko is the only back-to-back Olympic women's golf medalist since the sport returned to the Games in 2016 after a 112-year absence. She earned silver in the 2016 Rio Games, which she entered as the world's top-ranked player, and knows exactly how impressive it is to succeed with those expectations like Korda has.
"It's not easy playing as the No. 1 in the Olympics. I did that in Rio," Ko said. "And for her to fight through those kind of pressure and expectations and to end up winning the gold, I think it shows what kind of class player she is. I'm sure this is the start of many more majors and many more wins for Nelly."
#USA's Nelly Korda wins gold in the women's #Golf at #Tokyo2020!
— Olympics (@Olympics) August 7, 2021
It's the nation's first women's title in Olympic golf since 1900!@igfgolf @TeamUSA pic.twitter.com/UZExTOgb3G
Korda held a significant lead heading into the final round, but her 69 in that frame trailed the 65s of both Inami and Ko. Still, it was enough to secure a golf sweep of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics for the Americans.
Prior to these Games, the American men's and women's golf teams had gone 121 years each without a golf gold medal. They both broke that barrier in Tokyo.
