Winning an Olympic medal is hard, just ask Russia’s Maria Verchenova. She played one of the best rounds of her life and still finished in a tie for 16th place, 12 shots back of eventual gold medalist Inbee Park.
Verchenova doesn’t head back to Russia empty-handed, however. The 30-year-old will have a souvenir golf ball from her ace on the par-3 4th hole as well as her scorecard that bore the lowest score ever at the Olympic Golf Course.
Russia’s Maria Verchenova hit a hole-in-one en route to a course-record 62 at #Rio2016. ⛳ https://t.co/pq99Sz3O2D https://t.co/Yw2nUokWwf
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) August 20, 2016
Verchenova shot a 9-under par 62 on Saturday in Rio to move up 25 spots on the leaderboard.
Park ran away with the gold medal, shooting a final-round 66 to cement her place in golf’s pantheon even after some from her native country called for her to forfeit her spot in the Olympics due to a nagging wrist injury.
.@InbeePark of #KOR wins the first gold in women’s #golf in 116 years! Park finished at -16. https://t.co/pq99Sz3O2D https://t.co/3dR4Ud2Y3h
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) August 20, 2016
Park’s mark of 16-under par bested silver medalist Lydia Ko by five strokes. Shanshan Feng of China claimed bronze at 10-under par. American Stacy Lewis finished at 9-under par, one shot off of the medal stand.
Watch complete final round highlights by clicking the photo below.
The full leaderboard can be found here.
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