Inbee Park "Top 10 in Opening Round"… Danielle Kang's Comeback Victory

Joint 8th Place at Tournament of Champions, Henderson 2nd, Lopez 3rd, 'Number 1' Koda Joint 4th

Park In-bee is teeing off at the 1st hole on the final day of the 2022 season opener, the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.

[Asia Economy Reporter No Woo-rae] Golf queen Park In-bee (34, KB Financial Group) finished in the ‘Top 10’.

On the 24th (Korean time), at the Lake Nona Golf Club in Orlando, Florida, USA (par 72, 6,617 yards), the final day of the LPGA Tour 2022 season opener, the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions (total prize money $1.5 million), Park finished tied for 8th place (7 under par 281) after losing one stroke. This is a ‘champion of champions’ event where only winners from the past two years participate. It is held in a celebrity pro-am format with notable figures from sports and entertainment alongside players.

Park started tied for 7th place, 5 strokes behind the leader, and recorded 4 birdies and 5 bogeys. She showed an exciting run in the front nine, reducing 4 strokes with ‘stepping stone birdies’ on holes 3 and 5 and back-to-back birdies on holes 8 and 9. It was a situation where a ‘comeback show’ was expected. However, after a bogey on the 10th hole (par 4), she gave away bogeys on holes 13, 15, 16, and 18. Although her fairway hit rate was 100%, her green hit rate of 66.7% and 30 putts during the round held her back.

Park In-bee is a ‘living legend’ who has won 21 LPGA Tour titles including 7 majors. She achieved the ‘career grand slam’ by winning the 2015 British Women’s Open and added a gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics to become a ‘career golden slammer.’ She entered the opener to wash away the disappointment of finishing runner-up after a playoff against Gaby Lopez (Mexico) and Nasa Hataoka (Japan) two years ago but was satisfied with a ‘Top 10’ finish after struggling on the greens.

Daniel Kang (right) is cheering with his caddie while holding the trophy right after winning the 2022 season opening Tournament of Champions. Orlando, USA = Getty Images/Multivitz Photo by Multivitz

Danielle Kang shot 4 under par to claim a come-from-behind victory (16 under par 272). She avenged last year’s playoff loss to Jessica Korda (USA). This is her 6th career win after 1 year and 5 months since the August 2020 Marathon Classic, with a winner’s prize of $225,000 (2.6 billion KRW). Brooke Henderson (Canada) finished 2nd (13 under par 275), Lopez 3rd (12 under par 276), and the previous day’s leader, ‘Number 1’ Nelly Korda (USA), tied for 4th (10 under par 278).

Defending champion Korda’s bid for a ‘second consecutive title’ was halted at 7th place (8 under par 280). From Korea, Kim A-rim (27, SBI Savings Bank) tied for 15th (even par 288), Park Hee-young (35, Isu Group) placed 26th (15 over par 303), and Lee Mi-rim (32, NH Investment & Securities) tied for 28th (20 over par 308). Former golf queen Annika Sorenstam (Sweden) tied with former major league pitcher Derek Law (USA) in the celebrity category (138 points) but lost in a playoff.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.