Previous Kia Most Compelling Performance Award winners in 2013 include Yani Tseng (February), Stacy Lewis (March), Park (April) and Jennifer Johnson (May).
“I am having a lot of success this year and I am very thankful to win the Kia award in June,” said Park. “I have never experienced three straight wins before. It’s great.”
VIDEO: Watch Inbee Park on The Today Show, SportsCenter and Morning Drive following her U.S. Open Win
The 2013 Kia Most Compelling Performance Award winner will be announced at the season-ending 2013 CME Group Titleholders following an online fan vote (fan voting period is October 1-21, 2013). Performances may include a single tournament, multiple tournaments, single-round accomplishments or record-breaking performances. Winners of all the 2013 Kia Performance Awards will receive an all-new 2014 Kia Cadenza, premium sedan.
Park began her run at consecutive major championship titles this season at the Kraft Nabisco Championship in April where she won by four strokes before leaping into Poppie’s Pond at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
She continued the streak in early June at the Wegmans LPGA Championship, where 36 holes of regulations – and more – were needed on Sunday. Park defeated Catriona Matthew in a three-hole, sudden-death playoff to claim her second major of the season at Locust Hill Country Club in Pittsford, NY. She added a third consecutive major title with a four-stroke victory at the U.S. Women’s Open on June 30.
The Rolex Rankings No. 1 also won the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship Presented by P&G in a one-hole, sudden-death playoff over So Yeon Ryu on June 23.
The 2013 Kia Performance Awards are:
- Kia Power Drive – Won in 2012 by Brittany Lincicome; awarded to the player with the longest average driving distance
- Kia Drive to the Top – Won in 2012 by Stacy Lewis; awarded to the player with the most top-10 finishes
- Kia Most Compelling Performance – Won in 2012 by Inbee Park; recognizing a player with exceptional performances throughout the year; this award will be chosen by fans through an online vote
- Kia Community Assist – Won in 2012 by Angela Stanford; recognizing a player who makes exceptional contributions to charity organizations or community programs
Tseng earned the February Kia Most Compelling Performance Award for her Sunday surge at the Honda LPGA Thailand, where she fell just two strokes short of a “three-peat” following a final-round 63. Lewis was the March award winner on the heels of consecutive victories at the HSBC Women’s Champions and the RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup, where she took over as No. 1 on the Rolex Rankings. Johnson earned the accolade in May by becoming a Rolex First-Time Winner at the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic, to become a Rolex First-Time Winner, holding off a group of players that included LPGA and World Golf Halls of Fame member Karrie Webb and LPGA winners Jessica Korda and Anna Nordqvist.
)
)
)
)
