Golfer Aditi ends Rio campaign at 41st spot

Rio de Janeiro, Aug 21 (IANS) Indian woman golfer Aditi Ashok finished her maiden appearance at the Olympics at the 41st spot after a five-over 76 that took her cumulative score to seven-over 291 here.

The 18-year-old, who scored a 79 in the third round, continued to struggle on Saturday as she started off with three bogeys and a double bogey that gave her a 76. She failed to earn a single birdie throughout the day.

With two consecutive over-par rounds, she undid her good work of first two rounds that yielded three-under 68s.

She got off to a poor start after getting a bogey on the first hole and a double bogey on the par-four third meant that it was going to a difficult day on the course for the youngest golfer at Rio.

The Bengaluru golfer, who plays in the Ladies European Tour (LET), managed to make par efforts on the rest of the front-nine holes.

In the back-nine, she got two bogeys on the 12th and 14th as the day's score sat at five-over. She failed to add a birdie after playing par efforts to end the day in the 41st spot.

"Thank you @LETgolf Had a great week and going with invaluable experience playing @OlympicGolf #Rio2016," she tweeted.

"I hope to see more kids playing golf @IndianGolfUnion Thank you. I had a great week playing @OlympicGolf #IND."

Meanwhile, South Korean Inbee Park clinched the gold with a total score of 16-under 268 (66-66-70-66), while New Zealand teenage sensation Lydia Ko scored 11-under 273 (69-70-65-69) for the silver.

The 28-year-old Inbee, the world No.5 and seven-time major winner, took sole possession of first place at 10-under after the second round at the Olympic Golf Course and did not relinquish that lead the rest of the tournament.

China's Shanshan Feng, with a cumulative score of 274 (70-67-68-69), settled for the bronze.

Russian Maria Verchenova carded the best round of the tournament on Saturday -- a nine-under 62 -- but her four-under finish still left her six shots behind Feng.

Golf made a return to Olympics in Rio after a gap of 112 years, while the women's competition was back after 116 years.

The International Olympic Committee voted in 2009 to reinstate golf as an Olympic sport.

Margaret Abbott of the United States won the only other gold medal in women's golf in 1900.