Park’s surprise stumble creates LPGA logjam
Season-ending CME tournament now a wide-open affair with 31 players separated by just four shots
NAPLES, Fla. — Sung Hyun Park was in the palmetto bushes, near the base of the tree, in the bunkers and going nowhere in the CME Group Tour Championship.
Perhaps most surprising at the end of the day was that Park was no longer in the lead.
What looked to be a victory lap for the 24-year-old rookie from South Korea turned into a free-for-all Saturday at Tiburon Golf Club. Park at least was in solid position, one shot out of the lead, in her bid to become the first rookie since Nancy Lopez in 1978 to sweep all the major LPGA Tour awards.
She just never expected so much company.
Michelle Wie, who lost six weeks to an emergency appendectomy, had a 6-under66andwaspartofafour-way tie for the lead going into the final round. Kim Kaufman, who is recovering from mono, ran off eight birdies in her round of 64. Joining them at 10-under 206 were Ariya Jutanugarn (67) and Suzann Pettersen (69).
“Just really feeling like my old self,” said Wie, who hasn’t won since the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst No. 2. “Really feeling comfortable out there and having fun, and that’s why I play my best.”
Brooke Henderson (70) of Smiths Falls, Ont., was tied for 23rd at 6-under par. Hamilton’s Alena Sharp (69) was tied for 54th at 2-over.
Park, who didn’t make a birdie until the 13th hole and shot 75, was among seven players one shot behind.
Now she can only hope her one bad day is behind her.
“I think that over the course of four days, there is always a day where I’m not quite in tip-top shape,” Park said. “I think that day might have been today. Keeping your focus is not that easy to do consistently over four days, so I think there is always one day where my focus is a little off.”
Lexi Thompson, who leads the CME Race to the Globe, suddenly has just as good of a chance as Park to capture the US$1 million bonus. Thompson also is poised to win the Vare Trophy for the lowest adjusted scoring average.
“I’m not going into (Sunday) with any different attitude,” Thompson said. “Just going to go out there, free swing, commit to my targets, and try to do my best.”
The final day is so wide open that 31 players were separated by four shots.
That includes Shanshan Feng, in her debut at No. 1 in the world, and Henderson. They only have to win the Tour Championship to claim the CME Race to the Globe.
Kaufman showed early that low scores were available in her round of eight birdies. Park showed early that it was going to be a grind when she missed the green to the left on No. 2 and pitched far too strong up the slope, leading to bogey.
Then, she hit into palmetto bushes on the par-5 sixth and made double bogey, and the game was on.
Park looked to have steadied herself with an 8-foot birdie on No. 13 and scrambling for birdie after a poor drive in the waste area right of the 14th. But she took bogey from the bunker on the par-3 16th to fall back into a share of the lead, and then drove well left on the par-5 17th next to a tree. She chipped into a sandy waste area, came up short into a bunker and failed to get up-and-down.