WATCH: Lydia Ko gets emotional after creating history and winning the AIG Open
New Zealand golfer Lydia Ko took home the title of AIG Women's Open at St. Andrews, Scotland. It was an emotional win for her as this was her first major tournament win in eight years.
Ko created history with her win as she is the first golfer from New Zealand to triumph at the AIG Women's Open. The weather conditions at St. Andrews were less than ideal due to the harsh winds and rain delays.
Despite this, Lydia Ko put up a score of 7-under and went on to win the coveted tournament by two strokes ahead of Yin Ruoning. Ko got emotional after the victory. In a video posted by NUCLR Golf, she can be seen getting teary-eyed and hugging her husband, Jun Chung.
Ko has shown stellar consistency as she also won the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. In her post-win press conference in Scotland, she spoke about the past few weeks and said that winning the AIG Women's Open was a cherry on top of the cake.
"It's been a crazy past few weeks. Something that was too good to be true happened, and I honestly didn't think it could be any better, and here I am as the AIG Women's Open Champion this week. Obviously, being here at the Old Course at St Andrews, it makes it so much more special. I just loved being out there this week."
The 21-time LPGA Tour winner will take home $1,425,000 as her winner's share from the Old Course.
"It is the most Cinderella-like story" - Lydia Ko
Lydia Ko had started off her final round at the AIG Women's Open three shots behind South Korean Shin Ji-yai. However, she birdied the 4th, 10th and 14th holes to put herself back in contention.
Ko then posted pars on the 16th and 17th, before recording a birdie on the 18th to secure the win. She had to battle against some tough contendors at the tournament, including world no. 1 Nelly Korda, defending champion Lilia Vu, Shin Ji-yai, Yin Ruoning among others. The quartet finished T2, two strokes behind Ko.
The New Zealand golfer was thrilled about ending her eight-year wait for a major tournament win. According to the BBC, she said:
"It's surreal. Winning the gold medal in Paris a few weeks ago was almost too good to be true. Heading into the weekend I thought 'how is it possible for me to win The Open?'. It is the most Cinderella-like story, these past two weeks."
When asked whether she would rank this victory alongside her Olympic title and her other two major wins, she had a cheeky response:
"That's like asking me who I like best, my mum or dad."
With her AIG Women's Open triumph, Ko is now halfway across from winning all the major tournament titles. She won the 2015 Evian Championship and the 2016 Chevron Championship, but still has to win the Women's PGA Championship and Women's US Open to have all majors on her shelf.