“I would have loved to like done a dance or jumped up and down, but that situation, I think I was almost trying to cry, and then I realized, hey, I’ve got 11 more holes,” said Ko, who shot a third-round 65 in blustery conditions to move into a tie for second in Rio.
Ko’s hole-in-one was the highlight of a front nine filled with must-see moments. The New Zealander started her day with a birdie at the first and added two more at Nos. 5 and 6 before her ace at the eighth hole on her way to a front-nine 29.
In a testament to how demanding the conditions were on Day 3 when winds gusted to 35 mph, Ko said her even par closing nine was almost as impressive as her opening loop.
“I feel like I shot under par on the back nine, even though I shot even par,” she said. “Even though I did shoot even, some of the pars out there, I felt like I made birdies.”