Inbee Park – Page 4 – Syndication Server

Coronavirus cancelations make it tougher for some LPGA players to reach their goals

After the LPGA canceled three events on its Asia swing due to the threat of coronavirus, some golfers’ 2020 seasons begame more difficult.

[jwplayer HoWyYfvE-9JtFt04J]

The LPGA canceled its Asian swing due to the coronavirus, eliminating a tough decision for a player like Inbee Park, who was already weighing her options. Park, who got her season started much earlier than usual, said she respects the tour’s decision. She’s making her fourth start in 2020 at this week’s ISPS Handa Australian Open.

Thailand and Singapore are limited-field events with guaranteed paychecks. It’s tough to miss out on playing opportunities – three in all – but there’s more on the line than money. Park is trying to play her way into the 2020 Olympics and figures she might need to win twice before the June 29 cutoff to make that happen. Other players are trying to play their way into the ANA Inspiration and U.S. Women’s Open.

A maximum of four South Korean players can qualify for the 2020 Olympics. Hyo-Joo Kim would be the first alternate and Park the second.

The top four South Koreans who would currently qualify are Jin Young Ko (No. 1), Sung Hyun Park (No. 2), Sei Young Kim (No. 6) and Jeong Eun Lee6 (No. 9). Inbee is now 17th in the Rolex Rankings.

The 2016 gold-medal winner twice won the HSBC Women’s Champions (2015 and 2017) in Singapore and captured the Honda LPGA Thailand in 2013.

After this week’s event, she’ll have to wait one month until the Volvik Founders Cup March 19-22 in Phoenix to get another chance.

“I mean, it’s not going to be an easy task,” said Park of making the South Korean team. “I’m going to say it’s probably tougher than getting a medal in the Olympics to make the team.”

For years people have speculated about Park’s retirement. The 31-year-old said she doesn’t mind the talk because it’s always on her mind as well.

Not because she doesn’t like golf. No, it’s the lifestyle that gets the LPGA Hall of Famer down these days.

Simple every-day things like going to the store to buy groceries can get complicated.

“On the road another week after week after week,” she said, “and you go back home and you have a couple of weeks off, but I can’t even go to the grocery and buy things because I know it’s all going to go to waste after a week. I’m like, should I go the grocery or should I just get a delivery? I just hate that kind of life.”

But the winning part, that never gets old.

[lawrence-related id=778020304,778025501,778025271,778023629,778023306]

Gaby Lopez survives seven-hole playoff to win LPGA TOC

Gaby Lopez outlasted Inbee Park and Nasa Hataoka to win the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions.

A gutsy Gaby Lopez poured in a 25-foot birdie putt on the seventh playoff hole to claim the season-opening Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions. The 197-yard par-3 18th proved a beast of a hole all week long, with only six birdies recorded among LPGA players. Lopez was responsible for three of them.

What started out as a three-way playoff with LPGA Hall of Famer Inbee Park, Nasa Hataoka and Lopez was whittled down to two once darkness fell at Tranquilo Golf Course. Flood lights and a Jumbotron lit up the green as fans chanted “One more hole!” Ultimately, Hataoka and Lopez had to come back on a chilly Monday morning to resume play as temperatures dipped into the 40s.

“I proved to myself that I can win any situation,” said Mexico’s Lopez, who claimed her second LPGA title.

On Sunday, Lopez birdied the 18th in regulation to cap off a 66 and make her way into the playoff. The changing conditions had her switching between a 3 hybrid and 4 hybrid throughout the evening. By Monday morning, however, Lopez said she had the distance worked out precisely with the help of her caddie, coach and Trackman. She even backed off a bit behind the tee markers on the seventh playoff hole, striking a 3-hybrid exactly as she designed.

After matching pars on the first six playoff holes, Lopez poured in the first birdie on a putt she’d seen several times before. Hataoka had a chance to match it from only 12 feet but missed it left so badly it never had a chance.

It marked the fourth-longest sudden-death playoff in tour history, matching the 2004 LPGA Takefuji Classic where Cristie Kerr defeated Seol-An Jeon. The longest sudden-death playoff came at the 1972 Corpus Christi Civitan Open when Jo Ann Prentice defeated Sandra Palmer and Kathy Whitworth in 10 holes.

When Golf Channel’s Jerry Foltz asked Lopez if she was glad she didn’t have to see Tranquilo’s 18th hole for another 52 weeks, she smiled and said no.

“I do have a feeling for this hole,” she said.

It made her a winner once more.

[lawrence-related id=778021436,778021338,778021330,778021138,778020944]

John Smoltz wins celebrity LPGA TOC, pros await Monday finish

MLB Hall-of-Famer John Smoltz won back-to-back celebrity Diamond Resorts TOC titles Sunday, while the pros await a Monday playoff finish.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – It’s billed as the biggest party on tour. And the fatheads that line the 18th tee box, where the feel-good tunes are blasting, deliver on that promise.

But as Diamond Resorts CEO Mike Flaskey will tell you, this is no “slap-and-giggle” affair. Yes, John Smoltz will stop and sign an autograph even after a three-putt, but he came to win. Again.

The MLB Hall of Famer made it look easy on the celebrity side by wrapping up a successful title defense with one hole to play in the Stableford format with 150 points. On the LPGA side, it looked like another Hall of Famer, Inbee Park, might collect her 20th LPGA title until she splashed one on the third playoff hole. Instead it was Nasa Hataoka and Gaby Lopez who moved on to play five extra holes under the lights at the 197-yard par-3 18th in the season-opening Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions.

Alas, darkness won.

The two players will return on Monday at 8 a.m. ET to complete the tournament. It’s the longest playoff since the 2018 ANA Inspiration, when Pernilla Lindberg defeated Inbee Park in eight extra holes.

Inbee Park during the final round of the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions at Tranquilo Golf Course at Four Seasons Golf and Sports Club Orlando in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Flaskey said they had 141 applications on the celebrity side that they couldn’t accept. A committee had to be formed so that Flaskey wasn’t the one saying no. While it has quickly become a popular draw, Flaskey said many of the celebrities that live in his Isleworth neighborhood in Orlando, Florida, would love to play alongside the LPGA, but the format is too much to handle.

This isn’t a team event like the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Celebrities play on their own in a Stableford format in their own division for a $500,000 purse. Flaskey said it takes a special type of celebrity to put themselves under the gun on network TV. There are nightly concerts and cocktails, but Flaskey wanted to fill his tournament field with ballers. The elite field of LPGA winners and all-star athletes and artists makes the LPGA’s TOC a truly unique event.

The hope was that likes of Justin Verlander and Josh Donaldson, who reportedly signed a $92 million contract with the Twins last week, would remind folks that golf can be cool.

“At the end of the day, when you don’t have a Tiger (Woods),” said Flaskey, “you’d better figure out something different in golf because the same old, same old is just not exciting the younger generation.”

Angela Stanford, a first-timer at the tour’s revamped TOC, felt like she was living in a “dream world.” During Saturday’s round, all she could think about was how cool it would be to throw a football to Larry Fitzgerald. Stanford is a baseball superfan, having been to every MLB ballpark in the U.S. The most nervous she got playing alongside the likes of Smoltz and Josh Beckett was tossing the ball to her caddie to get it cleaned. And then catching it when he threw it back.

“I did tell Ray (Allen) that I made 90 free throws in a row in high school,” said Stanford. “I was hoping to impress him.”

Stanford, one of the few over-40 players on the LPGA, asked several athletes for tips on nutrition late in their careers. Allen talked about the importance of eating the same foods on the road as she does at home.

“I didn’t want to tell him that I pack my Diet Dr. Pepper, that’s not really athletic,” she said, flashing air quotes.

The Arizona Cardinals’ Fitzgerald said he has long admired Park and enjoyed “the clinic” she put on for him in the second round. Park, a seven-time major winner and Olympic champion, couldn’t keep that momentum going through Sunday, however, and let an opportunity slip that would’ve taken her one step closer to her ultimate goal for 2020 – a return to the Olympics.

Park’s caddie, Brad Beecher estimates that she went through a dozen putters last season trying to find the answer. Late last year she put a newer model of the Odyssey Sabertooth back in the bag, the same putter she used to win three consecutive majors in 2013.

Should Park regain that putting prowess, she won’t be denied in getting to Tokyo.

“Yeah this is only my first event back for 2020,” said Park, “and I have already played good golf this week. Just not great today.”

[lawrence-related id=778021156,778020944,778020961]

Hall of Famers Inbee Park, John Smoltz in control at LPGA TOC

Inbee Park and John Smoltz hold the lead at the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions entering Sunday’s final round.

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 18^th. She’s been rolling in putts so nonchalantly this week we’d already given her that 4-footer for par.

Alas, she’s human.

MORE: Leaderboard

“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 18^thhole 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 16^thhole. She’s four back and in fourth.

John Smoltz during the third round of the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions at Tranquilo Golf Course at Four Seasons Golf and Sports Club Orlando in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

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 20^thLPGA career title. Kim is gunning for her 11^th.

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.

[lawrence-related id=778021138,778020944,778020961]

Nichols: If Verlander and Fitzgerald are fans, why aren’t you?

If superstars like NFL receiver Larry Fitzgerald and MLB pitcher Justin Verlander can love the LPGA, why can’t you?

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – At the end of Friday’s round, Larry Fitzgerald and Justin Verlander posed for a picture with Inbee Park. Then Kate Upton, Verlander’s supermodel wife, stepped in to get her own photo with Park.

There are three household names listed in the above paragraph. Park, the LPGA Hall of Famer, is not one of them.

That’s the beauty of the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions. That’s the potential of this event, bringing an all-world player like Park more attention in the U.S. sports landscape.

The LPGA should tape a commercial with Fitzgerald, who recently resigned with the Arizona Cardinals for a 17^thseason in the NFL. Fitzgerald said he watches more LPGA coverage than the PGA Tour and admires their swings, attention to detail and accuracy.

On Friday at Tranquilo Golf Club, Fitzgerald spent five hours at the Inbee Park School of Golf and he soaked up every second of it. Park shares the lead at the midway point with Canada’s sweetheart, Brooke Henderson.

“It was just phenomenal how she’s able to stay completely focused on every single shot,” said Fitzgerald. “From her pace of play in terms of her walk, to how methodical she is in everything she does. It was a real clinic to be able to watch her out there perform in 20 mph wind.”

Inbee Park and supermodel Kate Upton at the 2020 Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions. (Beth Ann Nichols/ Golfweek)

Park, a seven-time major winner who won the gold medal in the 2016 Olympics, had to Google Fitzgerald and Verlander after the tee times came out. She was stunned not only by their talent on the golf course, but Fitzgerald’s women’s golf knowledge too. He asked Park if she got the first-place check after Lydia Ko won the 2012 Canadian Women’s Open as an amateur. He remembered that Park finished second that week.

Verlander, pitcher for the Houston Astros, wasn’t interested in talking to the media about baseball, for obvious reasons. General manager Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch were fired by the Astros and suspended one season by Major League Baseball after failing to prevent a sign-stealing scheme during the organization’s 2017 World Series-winning season. But he did comment on Park’s ability to stay out of trouble and called LPGA players “incredible athletes.”

“Today was a lot of fun,” said Verlander. “She’s got a new fan in me, and I’ll be rooting for her for a long time to come.”

There’s a Hall of Famer on top of the board in the celebrity division in former MLB pitcher John Smoltz. Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux are here too, along with Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez. NFL Hall of Famers include Marcus Allen, Richard Dent and Brian Urlacher, who was chatting down the first fairway with Nelly Korda.

Diamond Resorts CEO Mike Flaskey put the pairings together for the second round and was rightfully pleased with his work in the 9:20 a.m. group.

“I knew that (Inbee) was the player of the decade,” said Flaskey. “I feel like you have two sure-fire Hall of Famers in Larry in the NFL and Justin with baseball. I thought it was a perfect pairing.”

Fitzgerald isn’t the only athlete in the field who had contract news this week. Josh Donaldson reportedly agreed to a four-year, $92 million deal with the Minnesota Twins.

Park ranks fourth on the LPGA’s career money list with $15,356,126. The 31-year-old joined the LPGA in 2007 and spent 106 weeks at No. 1 in the world.

The exposure that these high-profile athletes bring to the LPGA could, in time, raise the tour’s value in the U.S. More people watched the final round of the Diamond Resorts event last year on NBC than the U.S. Women’s Open on Fox. It was the most-watched season-opening event on the LPGA in 10 years.

Verlander, Upton and Fitzgerald have a combined Twitter following of 6.3 million. Upton has 6.2 million alone on Instagram.

In many ways, it still feels like the LPGA is one of sports’ best-kept secrets. With a little love, these folks can help change that.

“I’ve played with guys who hit it 330, 340,” said Fitzgerald, “but the way Inbee was able to take the par 5s apart, be spot on with her wedges. Just didn’t miss a fairway all day. That’s real talent.”

He should know.

[lawrence-related id=778020304]

Inbee Park ramps up schedule in Olympic year, wants no regrets

Inbee Park wants to make it to another Olympic Games, but she has several other events before that.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – It’s an Olympic year, which means Inbee Park is slamming down the gas pedal. For the past three seasons, the LPGA Hall of Famer has waited until late February/early March to get her year underway.

This year, however, with Tokyo on the line, the 2016 gold-medal winner is making her debut at the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions followed by next week’s new event in Boca Raton, Florida. Then it’s off to Australia, where 31-year-old Park will tee it up for the first time in six years. She has committed to both the ISPS Handa Vic Open at 13^thBeach and the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open at Royal Adelaide.

“No matter how I say it, it’s definitely an important year for me,” said Park, who believes this might be her last chance at another medal. “Even whether I get an opportunity or whether I don’t, I think I just want to have a season that I won’t regret. I just want to give myself a lot of opportunities.”

A maximum of four South Korean players can qualify for the 2020 Olympics. Right now, Park, who ranks No. 16 in the world, is the second alternate on the list behind Hyo-Joo Kim.

The top four South Koreans who would currently qualify are Jin Young Ko (No. 1), Sung Hyun Park (No. 1), Sei Young Kim (No. 5) and Jeong Eun Lee6 (No. 7). Only Kim competed in 2016.

The qualification cutoff for the women’s field is June 29, immediately after the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

The TOC marks the first time Park has played in an official event with a pro-am format. She likes the fact that the atmosphere at the Four Seasons Golf and Sports Club is more relaxed than usual. She googled her playing partners, two-time Super Bowl champ Richard Dent and Mark Cantin, president of field operations for QBE North America. Park moved to the Orlando area when she moved to the United States as a junior player and said the Four Seasons course, though new to her, feels familiar.

“The greens are in perfect shape,” said Park. “This golf course will need a lot of birdies to win, but there’s a couple of holes that still the Bermuda rough is sometimes tough around the greens. So you’re just going to have to avoid going in the rough around the greens. I think that will be the big task. The greens are pretty soft, so I think we can play a little bit aggressive this week.”

Park wanted to kick off her year on tracks that she’s never seen before to get a fresh start in her mind. The first four tournament courses of the year will be new for the 19-time winner.

Even though she’s a seven-time major winner, Park said more people back home in South Korea recognize her now that she’s an Olympic champion. At the 2018 Winter Olympics in Seoul, Park carried the torch during the opening ceremony.

The Olympics have become a driving force in Park’s spectacular career. Even her dog is named Rio. Asked if she might get a second dog, Tokyo, should another medal come, Park put on the brakes.

“I was thinking about getting another (dog),” said Park, “but he currently has a girlfriend living next to, the neighbor. I don’t think he’s going to need another. He’s doing great.”

10 best LPGA players of the decade

Suzann Peterson? Lydia Ko? Ariya Jutanugarn? Golfweek reveals the best 10 LPGA players of the decade.

After Annika Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa left the game to focus on family, youth mostly dominated the next decade on the LPGA.

A dozen players took a turn at No. 1 after Lorena Ochoa ended her streak of 158 weeks in May 2010.

The global nature of the tour exploded, with players like Shanshan Feng, Ariya Jutanugarn and Lydia Ko blazing trails from all corners of the world.

Golfweek takes a look back on the 10 best players of the past 10 years.

Brooke Henderson at the Meijer LPA Classic. (Al Goldis, AP)

10. Brooke Henderson

A two-time winner in each of the past four seasons, Canada’s darling has been a top-10 machine in her time on tour. With nine total victories, she’s the winningest player in Canadian golf history – male or female. Won an LPGA major at age 18.

Pages: 12345678910

10. Todd’s pizza plans on hold

Brendon Todd won the 2014 HP Byron Nelson Classic and then got the full-blown driver yips. From 2016-18, he missed 37 of 41 cuts and contemplated quitting the game and buying a pizza franchise. Then, after starting the 2019-20 season with four missed cuts, he won the Bermuda Championship and Mayakoba Golf Classic in back-to-back starts.