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.
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.”
