Olympics 2024: Americans saw medal chances drowned with water balls

SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France — The Olympic ideal long has been about how the real measure of the event is the experience of participating. That’s all well and good for slogans and speeches and Wikipedia pages. When you’re Team USA and you bring three of the top 10 golfers in the world to the Games, mere participation credit is for the likes of India and Slovenia and Czechia. Anything less than the medal stand goes down like, well, too much water too fast.

And when you see as many water balls as Team USA’s golfers did this week, that’s exactly how the Olympics came unraveled. The American squad of World No. 1 Nelly Korda, No. 2 Lilia Vu and No. 9 Rose Zhang never quite made it into medal contention in Kiwi Lydia Ko's victory on Saturday at Le Golf National, and the reasons were many, but all had something to do with how many golf balls found French ponds this week.

Altogether, the Americans put eight balls in the water, derailing positive rounds and dropping them down the leaderboard and leaving too much ground to make up. Zhang rallied for the best U.S. finish with a late birdie on 18 that left her two shots shy of the bronze, even with a closing 74. Korda shot 75, including her second 7 of the week, to drop 15 places and finish T-22 at one under. Vu faded with a third-round 7, shot 76-74 in the last two rounds and tied for 36th.

All those penalty strokes were too much despite 42 birdies and two eagles the threesome made during the week.

It was like the course kept knocking the Americans off stride every time they took a step forward, and none exhibited that unsettled feeling more than Korda, whose 19 birdies were the third most in the field. Korda, the defending gold medalist from Tokyo three years ago, had her last three rounds derailed by disastrous bogeys or dreaded “others,” including a quadruple bogey on the par-3 16th in the second round and a triple bogey on the 15th in the final round. Despite ranking in the top 10 in strokes gained/off the tee and strokes gained/approach, Korda also battled a putter that would have given a younger player gray hair. She finished 50th in strokes gained/putting in the 60-player field.

“I think recently what's been happening to me is I make a mistake and then I make another mistake on top of it,” she said, after making 13 bogeys or worse for the week. “I need to control that where I don't compound all the mistakes.”

Korda’s challenge was trying to figure out how to be aggressive on a course where the rough was just penal enough to turn good drives into bogeys and, again, the amount of water was more disastrous than decorative.

“I was aggressive when I could, and I played safe when I had to,” she said. “I played pretty solid until the last couple holes. I feel like that was the story of my week.”

Zhang’s experience as a first-time Olympian seemed more positive but tinged with almost as much regret. She started the final round in a tie for third, but a front-nine 40, including a tee shot in the water on the very reachable par-5 ninth, set her up for falling a couple shots short of a bronze-medal playoff.

“I was probably an inch or two off, just not having the greatest lies from the rough,” she said. “Obviously, you can't expect too much out of the rough. But I was just that half-inch or a foot away from just being in good territory. It was kind of unfortunate, but I made some pretty big mistakes.”

Still, her back nine included a birdie at 16 and a chance for a birdie at 17 that would have given her a chance to eagle 18 and tie for third. That putt missed and while a medal for her wasn’t to be, Zhang said she instead got a kick out of watching playing partner Lydia Ko bring home the gold.

“She's made history, and it was really just inspiring to watch her throughout the round,” said Zhang, who reached the 18th green in two to close out her day. “For myself, I think there's just a lot more improvement, a lot more experience that I need to really just push forward and continue grinding. But overall, I'm just so happy for her.

“Lydia has always been a kind of mentor to me. Even when we were back in the Bay Area, even when I just turned pro, she was always one to approach me first and make me feel comfortable on tour. For her to say a simple ‘good shot’ at that moment meant so much. It was super cool. I mean, she's made history, and it was really just inspiring to watch her throughout the round.”

It would be easy for the Americans, particularly Korda, to come away from Paris having gained nothing. But each talked early in the week about being inspired by the other U.S. athletes, and a visit from Katie Ledecky prior to the third round had to be a highlight. But perhaps the greatest lesson from the Olympics still lies in the experience of participating. It was Korda, the most successful player in the field at the moment, who offered the most perspective at the start of the week.

“I would say I'm very grateful for the ups as much as I am for the downs,” she said. “I think that's helped me mature and made me realize how grateful I am to do this for a living.

"You can either shatter, or you can rise and grow from the opportunities and ride the roller coaster that life throws at you."