The result means she improved on her record in her second Games after finishing 51st on her debut in Rio five years ago.

It is also the best finish ever by a Malaysian golfer at the Olympics.

Gavin Green came in 47th out of 60 golfers at Rio 2016.

The 27-year-old closed her final round of the women’s individual stroke event held at the Kasumigaseki Country Club in Saitama by climbing up 14 spots from yesterday to be tied with Min Lee of Taiwan, Celine Boutier of France and Slovakia’s Pia Babnik.

All four had a four-day total of two-under 282.

A fired-up Kelly carded a bogey on the seventh hole and birdied seven of her last eleven holes for her best display so far after a series of below-par performances in the first three days.

Meanwhile, Kelly said she was satisfied with her overall performance despite starting slowly in the early stages.

“I did really well … I came here with the mindset of getting a medal for Malaysia but it was great to finish well and that will give me a lot of confidence after this,” she said.

However, the three-time winner of the Malaysian Open was gutted at not being able to bring along her own coach and team to Tokyo as that would have motivated her to play much better.

“(The) Tokyo Games is the Olympics I’ll never forget and I look (forward) to play next in Paris 2024,” she added.

Nelly Korda of the US clinched the gold medal after making a 17-under 267 total while Japanese golfer Mone Inami created history as she secured her country’s first ever medal in golf at the Olympics when she took the silver.

Inami and Lydia Ko of New Zealand had to go into a playoff for the silver after both players shot six-under 65 today and were tied for second on 16-under 268 total.

Ko lost and had to settle for the bronze.