Gorman grad Park wins LPGA Championship

PITTSFORD, N.Y. — Fatigue gave way to relief for Inbee Park upon learning that playing 36 holes in one day wasn’t going to be enough to win the LPGA Championship.

Rather than fret about the eight fairways missed, and the three-shot lead she relinquished on the back nine Sunday, Park refocused before the first sudden-death playoff hole.

“Nothing seemed to be working, So I really cleared my head, and just looked at the fairway,” Park said. “And I just smashed it.”

It took three playoff holes, but the top-ranked South Korean star persevered by draining a 20-foot birdie putt on the par-4 18th to outlast Catriona Matthew and win the rain-delayed major.

Park, a Bishop Gorman product, won her second straight major this year and third overall, and nabbed her fourth title of the season in an extended golf marathon at the water-logged 6,500-yard Locust Hill Country Club outside of Rochester.

The two-round final day was forced after torrential rains postponed the start of the first round Thursday.

By 8 p.m. on Sunday — about 12 hours after Park teed off to open the third round — a winner was finally decided.

“It’s almost a miracle that I won today,” said Park, a two-time state champion for Bishop Gorman. “I think I got lucky there, too. And I really tried to fight off and tried not to give up. That really paid off.”

Park closed with a 3-over 75 to match Matthew at 5-under 383.

Matthew, 42, from Scotland, got to the playoff in an altogether different fashion. She finished with a bogey-free 68 before anxiously waiting to see whether that was enough to give her a shot.

“When I started the last round, I probably didn’t realize I could win,” Matthew said, noting she was seven shots back when the final round began. “So to play well and get into the playoffs was obviously pretty good.”

After both made par on the first two playoff holes, Matthew struggled off the 18th tee on the third. She then had difficulty advancing the ball out of the rough just below the green on her third shot, before missing a 50-foot par chip.

Park, 24, also won the Kraft Nabisco in California in early April. With the victory, Asian players have won nine straight majors.

Also the 2008 U.S. Women’s Open winner, Park became only the seventh player to win the LPGA’s first two majors in a season, and the first since Annika Sorenstam won the same two events in 2005.

Park has seven career LPGA Tour victories, six in her last 22 starts. The $337,500 first prize boosted Park’s season winnings to $1.22 million and moved her into 25th on the LPGA Tour’s career list at just under $6.5 million.

Suzann Pettersen and Morgan Pressel tied for third, one stroke back. Pettersen had the low round for the tournament, closing with a 65. Pressel collapsed after she opened the day with a two-stroke lead through two rounds at 6-under 138.

“I’m definitely disappointed, but it’s the first time in a long time I’ve contended,” said Pressel, winless since 2008. “I’m happy with the way that I played this week as a whole. I had chances.”

Trailing Pressel by five shots midway through the third round, Park surged into a one-shot lead with birdies on four of her final six holes for a 68. Despite her struggles, it was a lead she wouldn’t relinquish.

Park, however, couldn’t close, and had to scramble to make a bogey on the 18th to reach the playoff.

“I felt like I ran a marathon today,” Park said. “I’m just happy we got it done. A major championship should have this kind of challenge, not the 36 holes every time, but this golf course.”