Park returns to her best to win in golf’s Olympic return

Lexi Thompson poses with her caddie and dad, Scott, ahead of the First Round of Women’s Golf during the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics on Monday (August 15) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

“Somewhere in my heart, after I made the decision to play this week, I really believed in myself that I can do it”, said Park, whose 70 on Friday moved her two strokes clear of Lydia Ko and Gerina Piller.

After a sluggish first two days, world No. 1 Ko raced up the leaderboard with a bogey-free 65 courtesy of four birdies and a hole-in-one at the par-three eighth. Piller, who has never won in her LPGA career, shot a three-under par 68.

RIO DE JANEIRO-They have different accents, different swings and are separated in age by almost a decade, but Inbee Park and Lydia Ko are, in many ways, the same player.

“Some holes, when you are making par, you feel like you’re making birdies”, Ko said. “I think the putts going in definitely helped”, said Lewis, who married Gerrod Chadwell on August 6.

Her only blemish on the inward half came with a three putt at the 11 where she missed the green long and left and failed to get up and down.

She later matched birdies on holes 6 and 18 with bogeys on holes 5 and 16 to finish with even par, while barely clinging to the first page of finishers.

Lewis, a two-time major victor on the LPGA Tour, thought something was seriously wrong in Wednesday’s opening round when she shot a 1-under 70.

Quote of the day: “I haven’t been very lucky with hole-in-ones”. Tied for the lead after a birdie on the 13th, she hit 4-iron into the bunker on the par-3 14th and blasted out weakly to 25 feet.

“At the same time, it is pressure for a lot of us”, she said.

What it means: Park is 18 holes from winning the first gold medal awarded for women’s golf since 1900. Actually, on my way to Portland (for a tournament in late June), I pulled out DVDs of a couple of my old wins, and just was trying to see what is different.

“Now, my father cooks for me”, she said. “I’ll just kind of be going out there and putting everything at stake aside and focusing on putting a good swing and being all in on every shot”. She began the day a shot out of the lead but shot 76. She is a four-time victor on the LPGA Tour this year, the best player in women’s golf and finally got some confidence in her putter. She instantly lost that advantage with a bogey on the second hole. Henderson was still in the mix when she four-putted for double bogey on the 16th hole, taking three of those putts from 3 feet.

She took two months off from golf to get ready for the Olympics, and it was time to trust her instincts.

Henderson finds herself tied for 19th place, five shots back of leader Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand heading into Thursday’s second round of the 72-hole Olympic tournament.

“I was able to feel a lot of the players’ nerves when I was on the range and when I was playing out there”, Park said. “I definitely hit it better, but the putter was on fire”.