LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – When Inbee Park wants something, she won’t be denied. Park has her mind set on the Olympics in 2020, and right now she’s the second alternate on the list of South Koreans.
So guess what? She’s leading by two at the season-opening Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions. And she was bogey-free for 53 holes until a pesky three-putt on the par-3 18th. She’s been rolling in putts so nonchalantly this week we’d already given her that 4-footer for par.
Alas, she’s human.
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“Yeah, it was a really good day out there,” said Park, who carded a 67 to get to 13-under 200. “Especially my ball-striking was flawless today.”
Flawless. Rare is the day when Park uses that adjective to describe her own game. But she’s feeling good, and rightfully so.
Sei Young Kim, the woman who took home an LPGA record $1.5 million last November at the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, took off three weeks during the offseason and, understandably, spent much of her time buying other people dinner.
Now she’s back at it, matching Park’s 67 thanks to four consecutive birdies on the back nine. She’ll be chasing a player she looked up to in high school but defeated in a memorable playoff at the 2015 Lotte Championship in Hawaii. After chipping in for par on the 18th hole to get into a playoff, Kim then holed out her approach from the fairway to defeat Park in epic fashion.
If only Sunday at Tranquilo could be so dramatic.
“She’s very consistent,” said Kim of Park. “It’s very opposite my character.”
Nasa Hataoka sits three shots back alone in third. Celine Boutier followed up an ace on Friday with a holed-out shot from the fairway on the par-4 16th hole. She’s four back and in fourth.
John Smoltz won last year’s celebrity division and goes into this year’s final round with a four-point advantage over Mardy Fish. Smoltz said he’ll be focused on making pars Sunday in the Stableford format. He has 111 points.
“If someone beats me,” said Smoltz, “they’ll have to make a lot of birdies. That’s the way I approached it last year, and it held up. So I’ll do the same this year.”
Park hasn’t started her season this early since 2016, the last Olympic year. She won a gold medal in Rio de Janeiro after a long layoff due to injury, one of the most remarkable feats of her Hall of Fame career.
While Park is a seven-time major winner, Kim is the best player on tour without a major. Park is looking for her 20th LPGA career title. Kim is gunning for her 11th.
Should Kim win tomorrow, she’d be the first player since Louise Suggs in 1960-61 to finish a season with a victory and enter the next with an official win.
Should Park win tomorrow, well, it might signal the start of a monster year.
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