'Namdalla' Park Sunghyun Revives with 7th Place Finish... First Top 10 in Six Years

Standard Portland Classic Final Round: 7-Under
First Top-10 Finish Since 8th Place at 2019 AIG Women's Open
Japanese Sisters Akie and Chisato Iwai Shine with Victory and Shared Third Place

'Namdalla' Park Sunghyun showed a glimpse of her old form after a long time.

On August 17 (local time), at Columbia Edgewater Country Club (par 72, 6,497 yards) in Portland, Oregon, Park fired a 7-under 65 in the fourth round of the LPGA Tour Standard Portland Classic (total prize money $2 million), jumping from a tie for 17th the previous day to a tie for 7th place at 16-under 272. This marks her first top-10 finish in six years, since placing 8th at the 2019 major AIG Women's Open.

Park Sunghyun is playing on the green of the 18th hole in the 4th round of the Standers Portland Classic. Portland=AFP·Yonhap News

Park Sunghyun recorded 1 eagle, 7 birdies, and 2 bogeys. She got off to a hot start, carding consecutive birdies on holes 1 and 2, three straight birdies from holes 4 to 6, and an eagle on the par-5 7th, reducing her score by an impressive 7 strokes over the first 7 holes. However, she was unable to lower her score further on the remaining 11 holes, trading 2 birdies for 2 bogeys. Her average driving distance stood out at 267 yards, with a greens in regulation rate of 94%. She took 30 putts during the round.

From 2015, Park swept 10 victories over two years on the KLPGA Tour before moving to the United States. On the LPGA Tour, she won twice as a rookie in 2017, followed by three wins in 2018 and two more in 2019, eventually reaching world number one. She also claimed two major titles: the 2017 US Women's Open and the 2018 KPMG Women's PGA Championship. In 2017, she swept the LPGA Tour Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, and Money Leader awards.

However, Park's performance began to decline in the second half of 2019, and by 2021, she missed the cut in 10 out of 19 tournaments. Last year, due to a wrist injury and other reasons, she did not compete in any tournaments. This year, she has made the cut only twice in 11 events. Earlier this month, she signaled a comeback by finishing tied for 11th at the KLPGA Tour Jeju Samdasoo Masters held in Jeju.

In a post-round interview, Park said, "The early part of my round went very well today," and added, "I made some mistakes missing short putts on the back nine, so I could have had an even better result." She continued, "Rather than focusing on my score, I tried to do my best on every hole," and smiled, saying, "As I played, I gained more confidence that I can perform even better."

Akie Iwai is playing at the 8th hole of the 4th round of the Standard Portland Classic. Portland=AFP·Yonhap News

Japanese sisters Akie Iwai and Chisato Iwai took the championship and a share of third place, respectively. The elder sister, Akie, delivered a flawless performance with four birdies and no bogeys, finishing atop the leaderboard at 24-under 264. Making her LPGA Tour debut this year, she claimed her first victory in just her 17th tournament. The winner's prize was $300,000. Her younger sister, Chisato, surged up the leaderboard by shooting 8-under, finishing tied for third at 19-under 269. This marks her third top-10 finish this year, including one win.

Gurleen Kaur (USA) finished second at 20-under 268, while Linn Grant (Sweden) tied for third, and Grace Kim (Australia) took fifth at 18-under 270. Among Korean players, Yoo Hae-ran tied for 7th, Lee Jeong-eun5 tied for 23rd at 10-under 278, and Ko Jin-young and Lee Somi finished tied for 30th at 9-under 279.

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