In-bee and Lindberg to return for fifth playoff

RANCHO MIRAGE: Park In-bee and Pernilla Lindberg played until it was too dark to see and still couldn’t decide who’s the winner at the ANA Inspiration.

They’ll return to Mission Hills for the fifth extra hole in the US LPGA Tour’s first Major of the season.

“In-bee’s one of the best female golfers of all time,” Lindberg said.

“So to even have a chance to go out and beat her in a playoff, I think I’m going to sleep great tonight and I’m going to be ready to go in the morning.”

Jennifer Song dropped out with a par on the third playoff hole and In-bee and Lindberg decided to take one more trip down the par-five 18th in fading light.

“They asked us quickly after the third playoff hole if we wanted to do one more, and both In-bee and I looked at each other quickly and said, ‘Yes’,” Lindberg said.

With portable lights and the scoreboard helping illuminate the green, In-bee holed a six-footer for par and Lindberg made a short putt to match. They finished at 7:21 p.m, 15 minutes after sunset.

“I was a little nervous because No. 18 is not my favourite hole,” In-bee said.

“The palm tree in the middle with my ball flight is just really hard to hit a driver over it.

“If you hit a three-wood, you run out of fairway. So, I really don’t have much of a shot.

“Finally, we’re playing a different hole tomorrow, so I’m excited about that,” In-bee said.

On the third extra hole, In-bee hit a wedge from the rough to 1½ feet to set up a birdie, and Lindberg made a five-footer. Song missed a 10-foot birdie try. In-bee and Song had putts to win on the first two extra holes. In-bee missed from 15 feet on the first, and Song’s seven-footer went to the right on the second.

In-bee scrambled to save par on the second playoff hole after hitting into the right fairway bunker and nearly hitting her third into Poppie’s Pond right of the green. — AP