Park back on top of world

Inbee Park arrived at Lake Merced this week with a new, vaguely familiar title: No. 1 player in the world.

Park returned to the top spot in the ranking for the first time since October 2015. She passed Shanshan Feng and Lexi Thompson with a tie for second Sunday at the LPGA event in Los Angeles.

This is Park’s fourth appearance at No. 1 and her 93rd week atop the ranking. It also punctuates her return from a back injury that limited her to 10 starts in 2016 and 15 last year.

“There were a lot of moments when I thought I wouldn’t be able to come back to golf,” Park said. “I was really lucky.”

Park, already a Hall of Famer at age 29, has 19 LPGA wins, including seven majors. She has posted four top-three finishes in six starts this year.

Park tees off at 1:10 p.m. in Thursday’s opening round at Lake Merced, with Feng and Brooke Henderson. Northern California musings: Christina Kim of San Jose stays true to her Northern California roots.

Kim was asked about the LPGA’s return to the Bay Area this week. She raved about Lake Merced while also praising last week’s venue, Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles — with a good-natured qualifier.

“Last week was very neat for SoCal, but it’s SoCal so it only goes so far,” she said.

Kim, smiling and half-joking, went one step further in her contrast of Northern California and Southern California.

“A couple of players also talked about the authenticity of San Francisco,” she said. “People here are definitely unique, and they embrace their individuality. It’s not like you see a homeless person and they say, ‘Oh, but I’m still an actor.’ It’s very cool.”

Players to watch: Notable tee times for Thursday’s opening round include Morgan Pressel at 7:48 a.m. on No. 10, Michelle Wie at 7:59 a.m. (No. 10), Paula Creamer at 7:59 a.m. (No. 1), Thompson at 12:59 p.m. (No. 1) and Juli Inkster at 1:21 p.m. (No. 1).