First there was a kiss from her fiancé and caddie Reece Phillips, then the medal around her neck. Esther Henseleit surprisingly won silver at the Olympic Games in Paris, making her the first German golfer to win a medal.
“I am extremely satisfied, extremely happy,” said the 25-year-old after her coup. Family and friends accompanied Henseleit, “Team Esthi” was written on their T-shirts. He got goosebumps on the second-to-last hole, revealed his father Horst. Henseleit clearly enjoyed the atmosphere on the course in Guyancourt in the southwest of Paris. The spectators kept calling her name and ultimately “practically carried her to the finish line,” she said.
Strong final round is rewarded
Thanks to a strong final round with six strokes under par, the German moved up to a medal position with a total of 280 strokes. The Hamburg native had started the fourth and final round in 13th place, five strokes behind bronze. “I knew at the start of the day that I had to do something special to end up with a medal,” explained Henseleit. No sooner said than done.
New Zealander Lydia Ko, who won silver in Rio in 2016 and bronze in Tokyo in 2021, won the Olympic tournament with 278 strokes and took gold. China’s Lin Xiyu secured bronze with 281 strokes. Berlin’s Alexandra Försterling took 35th place with 292 strokes.
Henseleit was not impressed by the starting position and started her round with two birdies. After two more birdies on the sixth and ninth holes, she was not disturbed by a bogey on the twelfth hole and also kept herself unscathed on the challenging 15th hole. Birdies on the last two holes ultimately secured her the silver medal. Once again, the German’s nerves of steel were the big trump card.
Course already tested in the Ryder Cup
Golf for women was an Olympic sport in 1900, but was then removed from the program and not included in the Summer Games again until 2016. The South Korean Park In-bee won in Rio de Janeiro, and the American Nelly Korda won three years ago in Tokyo. The 26-year-old world number one is the daughter of the former Czech tennis star Petr Korda.
The 42nd Ryder Cup was held on the challenging Albatross course at Golf National in 2018. Under the leadership of Captain Thomas Bjørn, Europe won clearly against the USA. Now Henseleit wrote German golf history there. It will probably take a few days until she can really realise it, she said with the sparkling silver medal around her neck.
