Nerveless Inbee Park sealed a wire-to-wire victory at the HSBC Women’s Champions yesterday in a clear statement of her intent to win back the No. 1 ranking from Lydia Ko.
On a day of iced towels and umbrellas, the South Korean stayed cool in the Singapore heat for a two-under-par 70 and a two-stroke win over Ko as she finished the week bogey-free.
Park’s scores of 66, 69, 68 and 70 and aggregate of 15-under 273 were too much for Ko, 17, golf’s youngest-ever No. 1, who was unable to erase her two-shot overnight deficit.
“That’s a big accomplishment for me,” Park said of her accomplishment of leading the US$1.4 million tournament from start to finish. “I think I’ve done that probably once before only, and to have a pressure every day since Thursday, I think it’s something that I should be really proud of.”
New Zealand’s Ko, playing with her left thumb strapped, missed short par putts on eight, 12 and 13, but finished with a curling, 12-foot birdie on 18 in front of a packed gallery.
World No. 3 Stacy Lewis put her ball into a tree on 12 and then found water at the last before finishing on 72, four shots back in third at the par-72 Sentosa Golf Club.
“She played great all week,” Ko said of Park. “No bogeys around here and on a course where you can hit a good shot and you can get bad luck ... that’s pretty phenomenal.”
Starting the day two strokes adrift, Ko birdied four and five to draw level with Park, who she demoted to world No. 2 when she seized the top ranking last month.
However, Ko’s bogey at eight signaled a mid-round stumble with three dropped shots, before she recovered with a birdie on 15 and another at the last after escaping from two bunkers.
Meanwhile Park’s progress was serene and she needed only birdies on seven and 11 before being doused with champagne as she toasted her 13th LPGA win and first of the year.
“I’ll probably play a lot more with Lydia, a lot more often,” Park said. “I just can’t believe that I’m playing with somebody who can’t even drink.”
Taiwan’s Yani Tseng shot a fourth-round 73 to end with a share of 21st on 285. She won US$15,321 in prize money.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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