Park last teed it up on the LPGA in August of 2022 at the AIG Women’s British Open.
As the LPGA returns to action this week in Thailand, one past champion is notably absent. Inbee Park, who last teed it up on the LPGA in August of 2022 at the AIG Women’s British Open, has no plans to compete this year either, according to her manager.
Park, 35, gave birth to her first child, daughter Inseo, in April 2023.
The 21-time winner was announced as one of 32 candidates for the IOC’s Athlete’s Commission. Park, of course, won gold at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. She plans to focus on promoting herself for the upcoming elections in the coming months.
Olympic athletes will be eligible to vote in the Olympic Village in Paris this summer. Four athletes from four different sports will be elected by their peers. Should Park be successful, she will serve an eight-year term.
Park won the 2013 Honda LPGA Thailand, kicking off a season in which she won three majors. The seven-time major winner qualified for the LPGA Hall of Fame in 2016.
It’s notable that several of these golfers haven’t been too “active” in recent years.
After Lydia Ko notched her 20th career LPGA title at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions on Sunday, it’s interesting to note what rare air that is on tour these days.
Ko won 14 titles on the LPGA as a teenager, and has endured a number of grueling droughts in her 20s.
The 26-year-old now sits only one point away from qualifying for the LPGA Hall of Fame, believed to be the toughest Hall to get into in all of sports.
At her home club of Lake Nona, Ko became the 29th different player in LPGA history to earn at least 20 official wins. She moved into a tie for 27th with Laura Davies and Cristie Kerr on the all-time official career wins list.
Here’s a look at who has the most LPGA titles among active players, noting that several ahead of Ko haven’t been too “active” in recent years:
Inbee Park has announced on social media that she gave birth to a baby girl on April 21 after 24 hours of labor at 39 weeks and six days.
“We came to the hospital as a two and going out as a three,” wrote Park. “We welcome our baby girl to this world. Thank you everyone for all the love and support.”
The LPGA Hall of Famer married her swing coach, Gi Hyeob Nam, in 2014. The 34-year-old has won 21 times on the LPGA, including seven majors. She last teed it up on tour in August 2023 at the AIG Women’s British Open at Muirfield.
There are now 24 moms competing on the LPGA, including two-time major winner Brittany Lincicome, who is in contention at this week’s Chevron Championship in only her fourth start since giving birth to her second daughter, Sophia.
LPGA players Caroline Masson, Amy Olson and Sophia Popov are also expecting their first children in 2023.
Here’s a list of active stars and where they stand on the march toward 27.
Lydia Ko needs only two more points to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame. At 25 years old, she’s tracking to become the youngest player to achieve that milestone.
Seven-time major winner Inbee Park holds the current record. She was 27 when she fulfilled the requirements. Karrie Webb was the youngest to reach the 27-point mark at age 25, but because of the 10-year service requirement the LPGA had in place until last year, Webb became officially eligible at age 30. Se Ri Pak was 26 when she reached 27 points but was 29 when she was inducted.
To be eligible for the LPGA Hall of Fame, players must have won or been awarded at least one of the following: LPGA major, Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average or Rolex Player of the Year.
They must also amass 27 points with:
one point for each LPGA official tournament win
two points for each LPGA major tournament win
one point for each Vare Trophy or Rolex Player of the Year honor earned.
An Olympic gold medal is also worth one point as of last year
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Here’s a list of active stars and where they stand on the march toward 27:
Here’s a list of players and caddies who have found a good rhythm and seem to be in it for the long haul.
There’s turnover every season when it comes to player-caddie partnerships on the LPGA, particularly at the start of the year. World No. 1 Lydia Ko has changed caddies regularly throughout her career, including this season, despite having an enormously strong 2022.
Minjee Lee, who won a couple majors in the past two years, will begin 2023 with a new looper after enjoying much success with veteran Jason Gilroyed.
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Plenty more players have made changes, but there are a number who have stood the test of time. While not by any means exhaustive, here’s a list of players and caddies who have found a good rhythm and seem to be in it for the long haul:
Park, 34, last competed on the LPGA in August at the AIG Women’s British Open, where she tied for 22nd.
Inbee Park took to Instagram early this week to announce that she and her husband Gi Hyeob Nam are expecting. Park, 34, last competed on the LPGA in August at the AIG Women’s British Open at Muirfield, where she tied for 22nd.
“We are thrilled to announce that we will be welcoming new member of our family,” Park wrote on Instagram. “Thank you all for so much support and love.”
A seven-time major winner, Olympic gold medalist and member of the LPGA World Golf Hall of Fame, Park first joined the tour in 2007 and has amassed 21 career LPGA titles.
In 2019, the LPGA updated its maternity policy to give moms two years from the date of the baby’s birth to return to competition. Once moms return, they have the same status they had entering the season of maternity and have 12 months (i.e. same number of tournaments) to compete at that status.
In addition to the LPGA’s updated maternity policy, all five majors on the LPGA schedule now have maternity clauses that exempt a player into the championship who qualified for the previous year but did not compete due to maternity.
Earlier this season, Paula Creamer and Azahara Munoz returned to the LPGA after giving birth in 2022. Brittany Lincicome returned to action at the Pelican Women’s Championship after welcoming her second child.
Caroline Masson and Hee Young Park are expecting their first children in 2023.
I haven’t had the most luck when it comes to injuries in my career, nonetheless I’m going to keep on keeping on.”
Jessica Korda will not be competing in the final two events of the LPGA season. Korda announced on Instagram that a back injury put an end to her 2022.
“I’m beyond bummed,” Korda wrote. “I haven’t had the most luck when it comes to injuries in my career, nonetheless I’m going to keep on keeping on. Excited to be back next year for my 13th season on tour healthier and stronger.”
Korda will miss this week’s Pelican LPGA Championship in Belleair, Florida, where her sister Nelly is the defending champion. She’ll also miss the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, which boasts a $2 million winner’s check, the largest in tour history.
Korda finished runner-up at the Chevron Championship, her best finish at a major, and is 32nd on the CME points list. She missed several months in the spring as well due to injury.
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Korda is one of three players inside the top 60 on the Race to the CME Globe who have not yet entered the season-ending event. She’s joined by Inbee Park and Linn Grant.
The deadline to enter is Nov. 8 at 5 p.m. Park, who is 50th on the CME points list, hasn’t competed on the LPGA since last August at the AIG Women’s Open. Grant, who finished solo third last week at the Toto Japan Classic and T-8 prior to that at the BMW Ladies Championship in South Korea, hasn’t competed on the LPGA in the United States this season.
The leading player on the Ladies European Tour, Grant has full status on the LPGA and has competed in six events this season. She’s No. 51 on the CME points list.
Thompson is hardly alone among big names on the LPGA who haven’t won a major in quite some time.
Lexi Thompson’s 57th major start will long be remembered as one of her most painful losses. Certainly not on the level of the 2017 ANA Inspiration (now Chevron Championship), where a four-stroke fiasco rocked the golf world and led to a change in the Rules of Golf.
And not as stunning as the five-stroke collapse on the back nine at The Olympic Club at last year’s U.S. Women’s Open.
But the KPMG Women’s PGA loss at Congressional certainly ranks a solid third on Thompson’s list of major heartbreaks. An 11-time winner on the LPGA, Thompson still only has one major on her resume and it came at the 2014 Chevron Championship.
Thompson is hardly alone, however, in big names on the LPGA who haven’t won a major in quite some time. Here’s a list of notables:
Henderson’s lone major victory came six years ago at the KPMG Women’s PGA.
BETHESDA, Maryland – There’s something about pulling into a past champion’s parking space at Congressional Country Club that gets the day off right. Brooke Henderson is again reminded of that life-changing day at Sahalee – when she took down World No. 1 Lydia Ko in a playoff – as she arrives at her locker, stamped with “past champion.”
Henderson’s lone major victory came six years ago at the KPMG Women’s PGA, and she comes into this year’s championship on the strength of a recent triumph at the ShopRite LPGA Classic.
“Every time I come back to this event,” she said, “I’m just trying to recreate what I did then and hopefully get off to a fast start on Thursday.”
The winningest Canadian golfer of all time will be joined in Round 1 by 2021 KPMG champion Nelly Korda and three-time winner Inbee Park, who won this event from 2013 through 2015. They’ll tee off at 7:33 a.m. on Thursday on Congressional’s newly renovated Blue Course, which is hosting a women’s professional event for the first time.
Brooke Henderson hits off the 13th tee during the final round of the 2022 ShopRite LPGA Classic in Galloway, New Jersey. (Photo: Matt Rourke/Associated Press)
Park, a seven-time major winner, skipped the U.S. Women’s Open earlier this month to get back in top form. This week she’s staying at the home of her best friend, who lives 30 minutes away in Fairfax, Virginia.
“I don’t know how I did it,” said Park of sweeping this event three straight years. “Yeah, if you ask me if I could do it now, I think it will be pretty impossible to do it. Back then I just – my game and everything was in great shape, and I was probably putting a lot better than what I am now today.”
While Henderson and Park are trying to end major championship droughts (Park’s last major victory came in 2015), Korda is trying to extend her streak to two consecutive years.
Last year at Atlanta Athletic Club, Korda rose to No. 1 in the world when she nabbed her first major. So much life has transpired since then for the young American, from winning Olympic gold to battling back from surgery on a blood clot in a subclavian vein in her left arm.
After recording a top-10 finish in her first event back in four months at the Women’s Open at Pine Needles, Korda lost in a playoff last week at the Meijer LPGA Classic, where she also won in 2021.
“Ever since I started hitting, it’s just been kind of full throttle,” said Korda of her return to golf.
“I have not taken more than two or three days off since then. I’m just happy to be out here playing competitive golf. I gave myself a chance last week. If you told me that when I was laying in the ER, I would have definitely been very happy with that.”
When asked what she attributed her strong play out of the gate to, Korda said it’s as much mental as it is the hard work on her game and body.
“I think it’s also about the attitude that you have on the golf course,” she said. “I feel like the more you enjoy it out there, the better you play, the less you get kind of ticked off, the less things go wrong, I guess, in a sense.
“Since I’ve been back, I’ve made sure that I’ve had a good attitude and enjoyed every second of it, and I think that’s contributed to my good play.”
The two-time U.S. Women’s Open winner has withdrawn from the event in Southern Pines, North Carolina.
Inbee Park will not compete in the 77th U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles. The two-time U.S. Women’s Open winner has withdrawn from the event in Southern Pines, North Carolina, along with this week’s Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play event.
Park’s manager told Golfweek that she’s taking off a few weeks to get back into top form and will decide on an upcoming schedule soon. The seven-time major winner finished T-16/T-3 in recent back-to-back events in Los Angeles and is currently No. 9 in the world. Park tied for fourth when the USWO was last held at Pine Needles in 2007.
Andrea Lee on the 12th tee during the second round of the Cognizant Founders Cup on October 8, 2021 at Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell, NJ. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire) (Icon Sportswire via AP Images)
Andrea Lee replaces Park in the field. Other alternates who are now in the Women’s Open field include Allison Emrey, Allisen Corpuz, Lilia Vu, Ingrid Lindblad, Pornanong Phatlum, Dottie Ardina, Karissa Kilby, Lauren Kim and Jillian Hollis.
The Women’s Open will be held for a fourth time at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club June 2-5 in Southern Pines, North Carolina.
