The weather forecast in Rio de Janeiro caused the start time of the women's golf final round to be moved up Saturday, but nothing was going to stand in the way of Inbee Park and a gold medal at the 2016 Olympics.Park was on fire from the start, finishing her final round with a66 for a 72-hole total of16 under par.Lydia KoandShanshan Feng tookhome the silver and bronze medals, respectively.Here is the final leaderboard from women's golf at the Rio Games:Full leaderboard via NBCOlympics.com.Park entered Saturday with a two-shot lead over Ko andGerina Piller. She went to work right away putting some distance between herself and the competition. She hit birdies on three straight holes, beginning with No. 3, to push her score to 14 under par.Golf Channel's Damon Hack did his best to put Park's performance into a proper context:Yet there are additional elements to her performance that managed to make her accomplishment in Rio even more impressive.Park has had a difficult 2016 season because of a left thumb injury that forced her to withdraw from several events. She withdrew from the International Crown event four weeks ago because of the problems with her thumb.This is just Park's second start since returning from the injury, but it was the clearest indication that her game is returning to the level it was at when she won the first three majors in 2013.Golf Channel's Kelly Tilghman left no doubt about her standing in golf history:Park is just 28 years old, and she's already eligible for the LPGA Hall of Fame.Tilghman also pointed out that Park's Olympic win made her part of an exclusive club:Feng tried to make things interesting, with four birdies in five holes starting on No. 7. That brought her score to 11 under par. A bogey on No. 13 would move her four shots behind Park without enough time to close the gap.Park responded with a birdie on the 13th hole. It pushed her lead back to five strokes, allowing her to take a celebratory victory lap for the final five holes if she wanted to.The real battle on Saturday was for silver and bronze.HarukyoNomura was tied for third with Stacy Lewis at nine under when her day ended. Lewis was through 17, giving her one more chance for a birdie that she was unable to take advantage of.At the time Nomura and Lewis left the course, Ko was on the 14th hole at eight under par. She would birdie the hole to move into a three-way tie for third place, but she had room to play with that her main competitors didn't.Ko would capitalize on her opportunity with a birdie on 16 that pushed her into a tie with Feng for second place.Fengmissed a short birdie opportunity on the 18th hole that would have put her alone in second, giving Ko a shot at the silver medal. Her second shot on the par-five final hole was hit left of the green, leaving her with a difficult up-and-down attempt. Ko left plenty of drama on her final birdie putt, as the ball caught the edge of the cup and rolled around momentarily before falling to secure second place.There are legendary performances in every sport that get passed down through generations. NBA fans have heard all about the legend of Willis Reed in the 1970 NBA Finals. Kirk Gibson's home run off Dennis Eckersley in the 1988 World Series is played on every MLB video package. Tiger Woods won the 2008 U.S. Open with a broken leg.Park's effort in the Olympics, considering how her season has gone and the injury she has been fighting, belongs in the conversation with any of those historic efforts. She dominated a stacked field to earn the first gold in women's golf since 1900.
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