Inbee Park admitted she was resigned to the prospect of losing the world No. 1 ranking, with Suzann Pettersen breathing down her neck at this week’s HSBC Women’s Champions in Singapore.
The South Korean starlet swept three major titles last year and she made a fast start to her season last week in Thailand, carding six-under 66 on Sunday to finish second.
However, Park, 25, said she expected a shift in the rankings, with Norway’s Pettersen capable of catching her this week, and defending champion Stacy Lewis not far behind in third.
Photo: AFP
“It’s actually really tough to win every tournament,” said Park, who made a delayed start to the year and missed the first two events in the Bahamas and Australia.
“It’s only my second week back this year and I think rankings points-wise, there’s not much gap between one to three. So obviously there are going to be some changes this year,” she said on Tuesday.
At last year’s edition in Singapore, Taiwan’s Yani Tseng was the woman under pressure as she struggled to extend her two-year reign as world No. 1. The US’ Lewis won a thrilling tournament by just one shot and went on to supplant the young Taiwanese at the top of the rankings just weeks later.
However, Park appeared relaxed about her 46-week stint at the top and said she was more focused on her overall performance this year.
“My goal would be maybe to maintain the No. 1 spot at the end of the year, but during the year, whoever has a good first week I think could change the rankings,” she said. “I think I’ll try to enjoy the week and try to enjoy while I’m here.”
Her standpoint is directly opposed to second-ranked Pettersen, a veteran at 32 who is highly motivated to be crowned the world’s best player for the first time in her career.
According to the LPGA projection, to go to the top Pettersen needs to win at par-72 Sentosa Golf Club and hope that Park does not finish better than tied for third with two players.
“I think I can be good enough to be the best in the world, otherwise I don’t think I would have kept playing. So that’s my motivation every day,” Pettersen said on Tuesday.
“I think the eternal drive of trying to get better every day is what gets you up in the morning, what gets you through the tough days, the good days,” she said.
“It’s obviously a dream of mine to become the best female golfer in the world, I’m not going to hide that, but at the same time, I just want to see how good I can be,” she said.
The US$1.4 million tournament has drawn nearly all of the world’s 60 highest ranked players, including 19 of the top 20.
Other players to watch include New Zealand’s world No. 4 Lydia Ko, 16, who is seeking her first LPGA Tour win since turning professional in October last year.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but