Nelly Korda bounces back, wins FM Championship in playoff…

Lydia Ko took advantage of a late back-nine collapse from World No.1 Nelly Korda to win the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews.

Korda had moved serenely into a two-shot lead with five holes to play but she came untstuck with a double-bogey seven on the par-5 14th.

She then followed it up with a bogey on the par-4 17th after finding the Road Hole Bunker.

While all that was going on, Ko, in the group ahead, was holding her nerve and she put the finishing touches to victory when converting a six-footer for birdie on the par-4 18th.

Ko’s final round of 3-under 69 was enough to close out a two-shot victory over Korda (72), defending champion Lilia Vu (73), Ruoning Yin (70) and Jiyai Shin (74).

More than eight years since she claimed her second major victory as a teenager, Ko has now added the AIG Women’s Open title to an Olympic victory in Paris a fortnight earlier that sealed her place in the LPGA Hall of Fame.

Vu put up a solid defence of her title and could have forced a playoff with a birdie at the 18th, but the champion from Walton Heath 12 months ago finished with a bogey to share second with Korda, Shin and Yin.

The Smyth Salver awarded to the low amateur went to England’s Lottie Woad, who rounded off her terrific week by finishing in a tie for 10th on 1-under par.

England’s Charley Hull had a weekend to forget with back-to-back rounds of 75.