With a dominant performance that silenced her critics and wowed her rivals, LPGA star Park In-bee won South Korea its ninth gold medal in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics on Saturday.
Park ran away with the women's golf tournament at 16-under thanks to a five-under 66 on the blustery final day at Olympic Golf Course. With seven birdies and two bogeys, Park defeated world No. 1 Lydia Ko by five shots.
It was one of Park's most impressive performances -- which is saying something because the 28-year-old has won 17 LPGA titles, including seven majors, and has already entered the LPGA Hall of Fame.
South Korea's Park In-bee celebrates after finishing the final round of the women's gold tournament at the Olympic Golf Course in Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday. (Joint press corps)
She has been battling back and left thumb injuries all year and at one point contemplated skipping the Rio Games. When she decided to compete, skeptics said she should let a healthier golfer take her spot in the Olympics.
Park let her playing do the talking, and people who ever doubted whether Park could still compete at a high level got their answer loud and clear.
Ko, who was expected to duel Park for the gold, barely put up any fight as her putter betrayed her on the front nine. Her three birdies over the last five holes weren't nearly enough.
Park's title brought South Korea's gold medal tally to nine, with one day of competition left. South Korea will only be represented in the men's marathon on Sunday, but its two runners, Son Myeong-jun and Shim Jung-sub, aren't expected to contend for a medal.
This means South Korea will likely fail to reach double digits in gold medals for the first time since the 2004 Athens Games, when it also grabbed nine gold medals.
Former Olympic taekwondo champion Cha Dong-min would have made it an even 10, had he not fallen in the quarterfinals of the men's 80kg event.
He got into the repechage round after the man who beat Cha in the quarters, Radik Isaev of Azerbaijan, advanced to the final.
Cha won both of his matches, including the clincher against Dmitriy Shokin of Uzbekistan, to claim one of the two bronze medals at stake.
All five South Korean taekwondo fighters have won a medal in Rio -- two golds and three bronzes.
Elsewhere Saturday, rhythmic gymnast Son Yeon-jae finished fourth in the individual all-around final. It was the second straight Olympics in which Son came up short of winning the country's first medal in rhythmic gymnastics -- she ranked fifth at the 2012 London Games.
Son scored 72.898 points from her hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon programs. Ganna Rizatdinova of Ukraine took the bronze with 73.583 points. (Yonhap)
