Golfer Sei Young Kim
becomes the first player in LPGA Tour history to go lower than 30 under in a performance at the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic.
ONEIDA, Wis. — Sei Young Kim became the first player in LPGA Tour history to do better than 30-under in a performance so dominant in the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic that she now has the tour scoring records all to herself.
Kim closed with a 7-under 65 on Sunday for a nine-shot victory, finishing at 31-under 257 to break by four shots to par the record Kim had shared with Annika Sorenstam. Kim won the 2016 Founders Cup at 27-under while Sorenstam won the 2001 Standard Register Ping at 27-under, the tournament Sorenstam shot 59.
Kim also set the 72-hole scoring record at 257, finishing with three straight pars to break the mark by one shot. The only blemish for Kim all week was a double bogey in the second round Friday. She had 31 birdies and one eagle, another record for most subpar holes in a tournament. Kim hit 67 out of 72 greens in regulation.
Kim began the final round with an eight-shot lead and was close to flawless. Amy Yang, who played with Kim in the final round, made eagle on No. 3 to get within six shots. She couldn’t keep pace, however, and made a double bogey on the par-5 15th by hitting one shot in the water and another in a hazard.
Carlota Ciganda of Spain lost a ball and made double bogey on the 18th hole for a 64 to finish alone in second, nine shots behind. Yang, with a birdie on the final hole for a 68, tied for third at 20-under with Emma Talley and Anna Nordqvist, who each had a 67.
The 25-year-old South Korean won for the first time this year and joined Brooke Henderson as the only players on the LPGA Tour with at least one victory in each of the last four seasons.
Na gets 2nd title
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — Kevin Na rode a hot putter to halt a winless streak of nearly seven years on the PGA Tour, shooting a 6-under-64 for a five-stroke victory at A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier. The 34-year-old Na’s only previous tour win came in Las Vegas in October 2011.
“I wasn’t sure if it was going to come again. I was hoping it would — sooner than later,” Na said. “I’ve been close so many times, failed so many times.”
He’s had three dozen top-10 finishes since that last win and showed signs earlier this year that reaching the top again was still well within reach. He tied for second at the Genesis Open in January, two shots behind Bubba Watson. In late May he shot 61 in the first round of the Fort Worth Invitational to match the course record and finished fourth.
Starting Sunday one stroke behind co-leaders Harold Varner and Kelly Kraft, Na birdied six of his first 10 holes to open a big lead on the Old White TPC, and he cruised from there. The only blemish on his card was a bogey on the par-4 11th after driving into the rough. Na finished at 19-under 261.
Phil Mickelson, who finished 18 shots back at 279, tamped down fescue grass with his foot in front of the seventh tee. He then called a two-stroke penalty on himself for improving his line of play. Mickelson said that he “wasn’t really thinking.”