Ace, Course Record Not Enough For Olympic Medal

Winning an Olympic medal is hard, just ask Russia’s Maria Verchenova. She played one of the best rounds of her life and still finished in a tie for 16th place, 12 shots back of eventual gold medalist Inbee Park.

Verchenova doesn’t head back to Russia empty-handed, however. The 30-year-old will have a souvenir golf ball from her ace on the par-3 4th hole as well as her scorecard that bore the lowest score ever at the Olympic Golf Course.


Verchenova shot a 9-under par 62 on Saturday in Rio to move up 25 spots on the leaderboard.

Park ran away with the gold medal, shooting a final-round 66 to cement her place in golf’s pantheon even after some from her native country called for her to forfeit her spot in the Olympics due to a nagging  wrist injury.

Park’s mark of 16-under par bested silver medalist Lydia Ko by five strokes. Shanshan Feng of China claimed bronze at 10-under par. American Stacy Lewis finished at 9-under par, one shot off of the medal stand.

Watch complete final round highlights by clicking the photo below.

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The full leaderboard can be found here.

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