Do not get into a playoff with Sei Young Kim, the winner of last week’s Pure-Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic. In her still-young professional career, the 22-year-old Kim has won five sudden-death playoffs in six tries. Her victory in the Bahamas on Sunday was the first LPGA title in her rookie season after recording five wins on the Korea LPGA (including four in playoffs).
Two years ago, Kim recorded a miraculous comeback at the Hanhwa Classic in South Korea. Trailing by six strokes with 10 holes remaining, she eagled the ninth hole and made a hole in one on the 17th hole when down by three strokes. She eventually tied So Yeon Ryu and won in a playoff.
How did she develop her toughness for playoffs? Perhaps because Kim is a third-degree black belt in Taekwondo.
With Kim’s victory last week, there have been six consecutive victories by players of South Korean heritage. Dating back to the end of the 2014 season,
that includes Inbee Park, M.H. Lee, Korean-American Christina Kim, South Korean-born New Zealander Lydia Ko, Na Yeon Choi and Kim. The last non-Korean
winner on the LPGA was South Africa’s Lee-Ann Pace last October at the Blue Bay LPGA in China. If you go back to Ko’s victory at the Marathon Classic last
July, 15 of the last 18 LPGA winners have been of South Korean heritage.
Sister act
The Jutanugarn sisters from Thailand made a big impression last week at the Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Championship.
Older sister Moriya shot a second-round 66 that included a back-nine 30, five consecutive birdies and nine in total. It tied for the lowest round of the week and was the lowest nine-hole score all week. She finished T24.
Younger sister Ariya, an LPGA rookie, lost in a three-way playoff. She played bogey-free golf the first three rounds and didn’t have an over-par hole until
the first hole of the final round. Ariya leads the LPGA in Driving Distance with a 273.4-yard average and is fifth in the Race to the CME Globe and second
in the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year standings.
Ko Headed Home
Lydia Ko, the world’s top-ranked player, is headed home. She is scheduled to play in next week’s ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open at Royal Melbourne and then will play in her home country’s ISPS Handa New Zealand Women’s Open, a Ladies European Tour event the last week of February.
Even though Ko still holds a small lead in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings (9.76-9.51 over Inbee Park), her place at No. 1 is secure for a couple
more weeks. Neither No. 2 Inbee Park or No. 3 Stacy Lewis are currently scheduled to play in Australia.
Etc.
Brooke Pancake opened last week’s Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic with a 67 to take the lead and had only 20 putts in the round. Her husband, Derek Rende, an aspiring professional, served as her caddie. … In two weeks, Mo Martin has hit 94 percent of the fairways over six rounds (she missed the cut last week). In taking the lead in the Driving Accuracy category, Martin has hit 79 of 84 fairways in regulation. … Fox announced last week its schedule for the U.S. Women’s Open: July 9 and 10 rounds on Fox Sports 1 and the weekend rounds on Fox July 11-12 for a total of 18 hours of live coverage from Lancaster (Pa.) Country Club.
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