LPGA playoff extended to Monday
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. — Inbee Park of South Korea and Pernilla Lindberg of Sweden will have to return to Mission Hills on Monday morning to decide the ANA Inspiration championship, the first of five majors on the LPGA Tour.
The pair played the par-5 18th four extra times on Sunday before it was deemed too dark to continue.
American Jennifer Song dropped out of the playoff with a par on the third extra hole while the other two were making birdie, and Park and Lindberg decided to play one more hole in fading light.
Twenty minutes after sunset with portable lights and the scoreboard helping to illuminate the green, Park made a 6-foot par putt and Lindberg knocked in a 2-footer to match.
They will resume play Monday at on the par-4 10th.
The three had finished regulation play at minus 15.
Each then parred the par-5 18th on the first two extra holes. Park and Song each had putts to win, with Park missing a 15-footer on the first extra hole, and Song missing a 7-footer on the second.
Park scrambled to save par on the second playoff hole after hitting into the right fairway bunker and nearly hitting her third into the water to the right of the green.
Park and Song each shot 5-under 67 in the final round while Lindberg had a 71.
Park won in 2013 at Mission Hills and is a seven-time major champion. The 29-year-old Hall of Famer won the Founders Cup two weeks ago in Phoenix for her 19th tour title, a day after revealing she was 50-50 about retiring before returning from a long break.
She returned to play a month ago in Singapore after not playing since the Women’s British Open in August.
Lindberg, the third-round leader, is trying to win the major championship for her first professional title. The 31-year-old Swede made a series of par saves before hitting close on 18 to set up the tying birdie.
Two Canadians made the cut. Alena Sharp of Hamilton, Ont., finished at minus 4 in a tie for 37th while Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., finished at minus 2 in a tie for 48th position.