Lydia Ko took Friday’s “moving day” to heart, as the world No. 1 fired a hole-in-one on the par-3 eighth hole to surge onto the front page of the Rio Olympic golf leaderboard.
Lydia Ko’s career-first ace vaults her into Olympic contention
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Hello, Lydia Ko! pic.twitter.com/7X6lwRmsdl
— Lady Golfer Magazine (@LadyGolferMag) August 19, 2016
Ko, the favorite to win a gold medal before the women took the course on Wednesday, had been scuffling a long way from the top before Friday’s third round began. She followed her ace with a birdie on the ninth -- her fourth of the day.
“First hole in one in my whole entire life,” Ko said after finishing with a 6-under 65 to get to 9-under for the week — just two shots shy of frontrunner Inbee Park, who was still on the course.
“I haven’t been very lucky with hole in ones,” Ko said. “At KPMG [Women’s PGA Championship in June], one went in the hole and came out, one hit the stick and came out.
“I didn’t really expect it to go in,” Ko added, “but when it finally dropped I thought I was going to cry almost.”
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