Sung-hyun reveals her secret weapon after winning World C’ship.
Sung-hyun’s umbrella her secret weapon
SINGAPORE:
Holding an umbrella did not only provide world No. 2 Park Sung-hyun of South Korea the cover she needed from the scorching sun – but it also helped her win the HSBC Women’s World Championship.
The 25-year-old was in hot form yesterday as she turned a fourshot deficit into a two-shot triumph at the Sentosa Golf Club, claiming her sixth victory on the LPGA Tour.
Trailing world No. 1 Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand by four shots at the start of the final round, Sung-hyun blazed the New Tanjong’s course with nine birdies to shoot a sublime eight-under 64 to finish on a 15-under 273 total.
Sung-hyun finished two strokes clear of Australia’s Lee Min-jee, who registered a 69 for 275, to walk away with a US$225,000 (RM917,000) jackpot.
Sung-hyun was over the moon to win in just her second start of the season after finishing 21st at last week’s LPGA Thailand.
“I’m really delighted and happy with my play. I think today is one of the best days that I played so far on the LPGA Tour,” she said.
“I’ve never expected that my first win would come this quick, because I’ve had a pretty unstable beginning of the season over the last few years.”
Asked what inspired her comeback, she said: “The secret? I just tried to focus shot-by-shot today.
“Because of the hot weather, I was holding my umbrella. But not only because it was hot, I was holding it really low so I could just look at the ground, and that really made
me focus more on my playing and that really helped me a lot to focus on my play today.”
Sung-hyun began her pursuit from the moment she teed off and birdied five of her opening seven holes and not even a bogey on the par-five eighth did any damage to her confidence.
She recovered from the blemish to add four more birdies on the back nine.
She secured the outright lead
after Min-jee, who led for most of the day, fumbled with a bogey on the 14th hole.
Buoyed by her superb start, Sunghyun said one of her major goals this year is to reclaim the world No. 1 ranking from Ariya.
Sung-hyun first made it to the top of the Women’s World Golf Rankings in November, 2017, but lasted only a week. The second time was in August last year, spending 11 weeks on the summit before being
dethroned by Ariya.
“It’s my goal to be ranked world No. 1 again this year,” she declared.
World No. 3 Min-jee was left kicking herself after the costly error at the closing stages saw her play bridesmaid for the second straight week while the first win in Asia was never going to come for Ariya right after she drove her ball into the water on the fourth hole, resulting in a double bogey.