South Korean Park In-bee cruised to the women's golf gold medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics on Saturday.


Park shot five-under 66 in the final round at the par-71, 6,245-yard Olympic Golf Course, for a four-day total of 16-under 268. She beat Lydia Ko of New Zealand by five strokes for the first women's golf Olympic title awarded in 116 years.

Feng Shanshan of China finished third at 10-under.

Park started the day at 11-under, two shots over Ko and Gerina Piller of the United States.

The South Korean went on to blow away the field on a windy day, pouring in four birdies on the front nine alone to move five shots clear of the field. The back nine served as a coronation for the new Olympic queen, as she mixed in three birdies with two bogeys.

Park was dialed in from the get-go. She made three straight birdies starting at the third, sinking putts of 10 feet, 15 feet and 26 feet. At 14-under, she was the only player double-digits under par standing on the sixth tee.

Park stuck her second shot to the eighth green to about four feet from the hole, and drained that putt to reach 15-under. Feng was the closest challenger at five strokes behind.

Park opened the back nine with a bogey, but wasn't seriously threatened the rest of the way as she left everyone else playing for silver and bronze medals.

Women's golf was an Olympic event for the first time since 1900. This victory makes Park the only golfer, male or female, with an Olympic gold and a career grand slam -- which entails winning four different majors at least once.

Park has slumped through an injury-plagued season, and hasn't picked up a victory on the LPGA Tour. She mulled over skipping the Olympics as recently as June because of her left thumb issues, and only decided last month to compete in Rio.

"I've prepared very hard for the last month to come to play this week, and I've had to overcome a lot of obstacles," Park said at a press conference. "I was able to make myself physically and mentally strong enough to compete this week. I wanted to test my limits."

Three other South Koreans finished without medals. Yang Hee-young was the second best in the contingent after Park at nine-under 275, just one behind the bronze medalist, Feng. Yang had six birdies against two bogeys for a 67 on Saturday.

Chun In-gee had two birdies erased by two bogeys for a closing 71, which left her at five-under for the tournament and tied for 13th.

Kim Sei-young also had an even-par round of 71 with three brides and an eagle negated by five bogeys. She finished tied for 25th at one-under.