Hee Young Park wins LPGA event in playoiff

Hee Young Park wins LPGA event in playoiff

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The Sports Xchange July 14, 2013 8:40 PMThe SportsXchange



Hee Young Park beat Angela Stanford by sinking a birdie putt on the third playoff hole Sunday to win the Manulife Financial LPGA Classic at Grey Silo Golf Course at Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

Stanford and Park finished tied for the lead after 72 holes at 26-under-par after both players birdied the final regulation hole.

Stanford had a 7-under 64 on Sunday, while Park, who led after the third round, had a 65.

Park trailed Stanford by three strokes with five holes to go, but birdied four of the final five holes to shoot 30 on the back nine and force the playoff.

"I mean, still can't believe it," said Park, who is from South Korea. "And then I have to go back to No. 18 tee again and my caddie and I worked hard and were never disappointed. Even missed the putt even during the round, and then tried to get simple. That's what worked, and then that brought the good result."

Both players birdied the first two playoff holes, before Park birdied the deciding hole for the victory.

It was the second career LPGA victory for the 26-year-old Park, who participated in her first playoff.

Stanford was obviously disappointed.

"Yeah, it seems kind of tough to swallow right now, but you know like today, if somebody would have told me you're going to shoot 64 today and not win, I would have thought they were crazy," said Stanford. "So for me to shoot 64-64 on the weekend, you know, it's good for me but it's not a W, so you play to win."

Catriona Matthew of Scotland held the lead through 12 holes on Sunday, but did not have any birdies after that and bogeyed the 15th to finish the day with 66.

"I just got a flyer out of the rough," said Matthew of the bogey. "That rough is kind of sticky, you know, and I've not been hitting it quite as far out of it and then that one was a bit of a flyer."

She wound up third, three strokes behind the leaders at 23-under.

Meena Lee finished alone in fourth, three shots behind Matthew.

Inbee Park of South Korea, who has taken a firm hold on the No. 1 spot in the Rolex Women' World Rankings by winning six times this year including the first three majors of the season, shot a 3-under-par 68 in the final round to finish at 16-under, 10 strokes behind the leaders.

Inbee Park was bidding to become the first player to win four consecutive LPGA Tour events since Lorena Ochoa did it in 2008.

Golf Glance

Golf Glance

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The Sports Xchange July 14, 2013 10:30 PMThe SportsXchange



COMING UP

PGA TOUR: 142nd Open Championship at Muirfield Golf Linksin Gullane, East Lothian, Scotland, Thursday through Sunday.

TV: Thursday and Friday, 4 a.m.-3 p.m. EDT; Saturday, 7 a.m.-3 p.m. EDT, and Sunday, 6 a.m.-3 p.m. EDT, on ESPNall four days.

LAST YEAR: Ernie Els holed a 20-foot birdie putt on the final hole at Royal Lytham & St. Annes to claim the Claret Jug for the second time when Adam Scott blew a four-stroke lead by carding bogeys on each of the last four holes. Els, who claimed his fourth major title but the first since the 2002 Open Championship at Muirfield, closed with a 2-under-par 68 that included four birdies on a spotless back nine. Scott, who was seeking his first major title and finally broke through earlier this year by winning the Masters, took a four-stroke lead into the final round but finished with a 75 that included seven bogeys. The Aussie led virtually all the way to the finish after posting scores of 64-67-68, but Els caught and passed him by playing the weekend in 68-68. The Big Easy also won the U.S. Open in 1994 and 1997.



PGA TOUR: Sanderson Farms Championship at Annandale Golf Club in Madison, Miss., Thursday through Sunday.

TV: Thursday through Sunday, 4-7 p.m. EDT, on the Golf Channel all four days.

LAST YEAR: Scott Stallings posted four rounds of 4-under-par 68 or better and claimed his second victory on the PGA Tour by two strokes over Jason Bohn in what was then the True South Classic. Stallings, who also captured the 2011 Greenbrier Classic, went 54 holes without a bogey until carding one on the 14th hole of the final round, slicing his lead to one stroke. However, he holed birdie putts of three feet on the 16th hole and 12 feet on the 17th before Bohn cut the final margin to two shots with a birdie on the last hole. Stallings had bookend rounds of 68 and played the middle round in 64-64 to finish at 24-under 264, setting the tournament record for score in relation to par.



CHAMPIONS TOUR: The Senior Open Championship at Royal Berkshire Golf Club in Southport, Merseyside, England, July 25-28.

TV: Thursday through Sunday, noon-2 p.m. EDT, on ESPN all four days.

LAST YEAR: Fred Couples birdied the last two holes, sinking a 25-foot putt on the No. 18 at Turnberry, Scotland, to claim a two-stroke victory over Gary Hallberg, claiming his second major title on the Champions Tour and winning for the first time in Great Britain. Couples, who claimed his only PGA Tour major victory at the 1992 Masters and also won the 2011 Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship, closed with a 3-under-par 67 to hold off Hallberg, who charged home with a 66, equaling the best score of the day. Couples was tied for the lead in the final round with 54-hole leader Bernhard Langer through 11 holes in the final round. Then the German carded a double-bogey 6 on the 12th hole as Couples made birdie, and fell further back with three consecutive bogeys through No. 17 to close with a 75 that left him in a tie for sixth.



LPGA TOUR: Marathon Classic at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania, Ohio, Thursday through Sunday.

TV: Thursday through Sunday, 2-4 p.m. EDT, on the Golf Channel all four days.

LAST YEAR: So Yeon Ryu of South Korea shot a career-best 9-under-par 62 in the final round to claim a six-stroke victory over Angela Stanford, her second LPGA Tour title, in what then was the Jamie Farr Toledo Classic. Ryu, who was not yet a full-fledged member of the circuit when she captured the 2011 U.S. Women's Open in a playoff with Hee Kyung Seo, also of South Korea, ran away with her second title by posting scores of 67-68-67-62. Ryu was tied for the lead with three other South Koreans -- Jiyai Shin, Hee Kyung Seo and I.K. Kim -- before pulling away with two early birdies and then five in succession through No. 14. Ryu finished two shots off the one-round tournament record of 60 set by Paula Creamer in 2008 and three strokes shy of Se Ri Pak's tournament record of 23-under total of 261 set in 1998.