Inbee Park loves coming to Texas. For the second time in three years, she is leaving the Lone Star State with a trophy.
Two years after winning the LPGA Tour’s inaugural North Texas Shootout, Park closed with a bogey-free six-under-par 65 on Sunday to win it again, this time by three strokes over Cristie Kerr and Park Hee-young.
“I don’t know how I did it, but I did it twice,” Inbee Park said. “I love this golf course... It seems like it really suits my eye.”
Photo: AFP
Park, ranked No. 2 in the world, never surrendered the lead after consecutive birdies at the second and third holes at Las Colinas Country Club, finishing at 15-under 269 for her second victory this year and 14th on the tour. This is the fourth season in a row the 26-year-old South Korean player has multiple victories.
Kerr had three consecutive birdies to finish her round of 66. Park Hee-young also had a 66, birdieing the final two holes after her only bogey at No. 16.
“Can’t complain,” the 37-year-old Kerr said. “I was great mentally... I thought I had to shoot at least five or six-under to have a chance, and I did that.”
Kaohsiung-born Candie Kung of the US finished tied for 30th with a two-under-par 282, while Taiwan’s Yani Tseng carded 284 for par to tie for 41st place and Hsu Wei-ling tied for 45th with a one-over-par 285.
Lydia Ko, coming off a win last week in California, is to maintain the No. 1 ranking even after a closing 71 to tie for 41st at even par. The 18-year-old from New Zealand is donating her US$6,241 check to Nepal earthquake relief.
“I didn’t know if I was even going to be able to make the cut or even make a donation,” said Ko, who was just on the line to make the primary cut on Friday and secondary cut on Saturday. “Luckily, I was able to play all four days... The last three days was a lot of grinding, but I’m happy that I can contribute.”
Lexi Thompson, who shared the third-round lead with Park, closed with a 69 to tie for fourth with Maria McBride (65) at 11-under.
A stroke behind Park midway through the round, Thompson was set to get even again after her approach to about 5 feet at the 415-yard ninth hole. However, before making that birdie putt, Inbee Park curled in a much longer putt there to get to 12-under.
“That really got me going into the momentum, and that definitely gave me a lot of confidence on the greens,” Inbee Park said. “I thought maybe today is not the day for me on the putting, because it didn’t want to go in on the front nine.”
Park was four strokes ahead of Thompson after a 10-foot birdie putt at the 390-yard 15th hole to get to 14-under. Thompson hit her approach through that green and made a bogey.
Park, the HSBC Women’s Champions winner in Singapore in March, pushed her career total to nearly US$10.8 million with the US$195,000 first prize check.
Angela Stanford, who lives in nearby Fort Worth, Texas, and attended Texas Christian University, was at 10-under after a 69. That was a stroke ahead of a trio of defending champion Stacy Lewis (67), Juli Inkster (67) and Karrie Webb (70).
McBride made only US$49,315 in her 32 previous starts since 2012, when the Swede had her last top-10 finish. The tie for fourth is to net her US$61,259 after a round with two eagles, and just missing a third on the final hole.
Brooke Henderson, the 17-year-old Canadian who nearly made a playoff last week in San Francisco and was the second-round leader in Texas, opened on Sunday with a birdie to get to nine-under and match the leaders who had not yet teed off.
However, Henderson was out of contention after a three-hole stretch that started with a bogey at the par-five third hole, where her approach settled in a concrete culvert under a city street between holes. She double-bogeyed the par-three fourth after her tee shot went in the water, then had another bogey at the fifth hole.
Henderson’s 73 left her in a tie for 13th at six-under 278.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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