Lydia Ko wins first major in 8 years; conquers St. Andrews thanks to clutch final birdie

Former World No. 1 Lydia Ko won the AIG Women’s Open at St. Andrews, winning her first major title since 2016.

What a summer it has been for Lydia Ko.

Two weeks after winning the gold medal at the Olympics in Paris, Ko conquered the Old Course at St. Andrews, winning the AIG Women’s Open for the first time. In doing so, she became the first player from New Zealand to win this championship.

Her win at St. Andrews is her third career major, thus snapping an eight-year-long major championship drought—a surprising reality given Ko’s pedigree as one of the world’s best. It also marks her 21st career victory on the LPGA Tour.

Ko’s last major title came at the 2016 ANA Inspiration at Mission Hills in California. That tournament is now known as the Chevron Championship, which Nelly Korda won earlier this year.

Speaking of Korda, the World No. 1 finished in a tie for second. She held a two-shot lead late on the back-nine but faltered over the last few holes.

Nevertheless, Ko, who entered the LPGA Hall of Fame thanks to her win at Le Golf National, turned in a performance for the ages down the stretch. She made three birdies on the back nine, with none more important than her clutch par-breaker on the famous par-4 18th. Ko made a sliding, downhill, left-to-right putt from about seven feet to post 7-under for the championship, temporarily giving herself a one-shot advantage over Korda and Lilia Vu.

But Korda bogied the 17th moments after Ko made her birdie putt. Vu then dropped a shot on the 18th, thanks to an untimely three-putt, which ultimately gave Ko a two-shot win.

Ko now becomes the latest legend to win an Open Championship at the Old Course.

In addition to Lorena Ochoa and current Solheim Cup captain Stacy Lewis, who won the Women’s Open in 2007 and 2013, respectively, Ko joins Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Peter Thomson, Nick Faldo, Sam Snead, and Bobby Jones as players who have won at St. Andrews.

Ko will go down in the record books as one of the best players of her generation, a player who continues to marvel at the age of 24. But now, thanks to her incredible triumph on the Old Course, her resume has entered legendary status.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.