Ko stays in top five as rival sprints past field

Lydia Ko failed to fire in the final round of the Scottish Open, leaving Japan’s Ayaka Furue the chance to storm to a maiden LPGA Tour victory on the Dundonald links yesterday.

Ko began the day in a tie for first place with France’s Celine Boutier but struggled to find ways to get under par as she posted just three birdies, alongside two bogeys, as part of a one-under 71.

In contrast, Furue nailed a bogeyfree, 10-birdie round of 62 to eventually win by three shots over Boutier.

Consecutive rounds of 71 over the weekend doomed Ko to a tie for fifth on the leaderboard after a hot start to the tournament.

“I feel like I wasn’t able to get things going over this weekend. Overall I played really solid,” Ko told media following her round.

“Even the last couple days, I hit a couple of not-so-good shots, but other than that . . . I feel like there were a lot of good things, and like I said, sometimes when you get in a good rhythm of things, you’re able to keep it going.

“But I just was never on that train on this weekend, hopefully this is a good momentum for next week.”

Next up on the schedule this week for Ko is a shot at the Women’s British Open, a tournament in which she’s traditionally struggled to make her mark.

However, the fact it’s taking place at a brand new venue in 2022 has given her hope for a better result.

“Yeah, I haven’t had the greatest track record at The Open.

“So I’m excited for Muirfield. “Obviously it’s the first time that the women’s championship is there, so it’s a pretty historic venue and historic championship.

“I’ve heard a lot of great things about it. Seen it on TV. So I’m excited to go play.”

Fifth place at Dundonald this weekend earned Ko a purse of NZ$99,101 to take her 2022 earnings to just under NZ$2.5M.