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Inbee Park wins LPGA Championship...
Inbee Park tees off on the fourth hole during the
Wegmans LPGA golf championship in Pittsford, N.Y.,
Calm under the intense pressure of a
playoff at a major, Inbee Park added
another title to her impressive LPGA
Tour resume.
Park successfully defended her title in
the LPGA Championship, beating Brittany
Lincicome with a par on the first hole
of a playoff Sunday to end the United
States' major streak at three.
''I didn't feel that nervous at all
today,'' said Park, also a playoff
winner last year. ''But once I got to
the tee on the playoff hole, I just felt
the nerves right away. It was like a
replay of last year and experience
definitely helped me out. I think I was
able to stay calm.''
The victory came on a bittersweet day
when the LPGA Tour bade farewell to the
Rochester area after 38 years. Next
year, the tour will team with the PGA of
America to run the Women's PGA
Championship. The 2015 event will be
played at Westchester Country Club near
New York City.
Park, Nancy Lopez and Patty Sheehan are
only players to win twice in a row in
Rochester.
''Just very happy to be part of
history,'' Park said.
Lincicome was poised to win her second
major and keep that American streak
alive, but her nerves got the best of
her after she led all day.
''Not being in this position for a
while, I think it all caught up with
me,'' Lincicome said. ''Being second at
a major is always a good thing. I feel
like I played really, really well this
week. If I keep playing the way I did,
my time's coming soon. It was nice to be
in contention again.''
On the playoff hole on Monroe Golf
Club's par-4 18th, Park hit her second
shot into the rough behind the hole.
Lincicome hit her approach to the left
fringe, nearly identical to her position
on the final hole of regulation when she
made a bogey to fall into the playoff.
Lincicome chipped 6 feet past the hole
and failed to convert for bogey. Park,
the winner last year at Locust Hill on
the third extra hole with Catriona
Matthew, chipped to 3 feet and calmly
sank her par putt for her fifth major
title and fourth in the last two
seasons.
''Inbee is so darn good. It was so
close,'' Lincicome said. ''I need to
learn how to control the nerves a little
bit more.''
Park finished with a 2-under 70 to match
Lincicome at 11-under 276. Lincicome had
a 71.
Americans had won the first three majors
of the LPGA Tour season for the first
time since 1999. Lexi Thompson began the
run at Kraft Nabisco, Michelle Wie won
the U.S. Women's Open and Mo Martin the
Women's British Open.
The 26-year-old Park, from South Korea,
was coming off a playoff loss to Mirim
Lee last week in Michigan. Park also won
this season in Canada and has 11 LPGA
Tour victories.
Park is projected to jump from third to
second in the world, passing 17-year-old
Lydia Ko of New Zealand. Ko, trying to
become the youngest major winner in LPGA
history, shot a 70 to finish third at 8
under.
Spain's Azahara Munoz (70) and Sweden's
Anna Nordqvist (71) tied for fourth at 6
under.
Lincicome squandered the lead on the
final hole of regulation. She hit her
second shot to the left fringe and was
in a good spot, but a long delay for a
ruling on a shot by Suzann Pettersen
only heightened the tension, and it
showed.
With top-ranked Stacy Lewis among the
gallery clapping, Lincicome left her
first putt 8 feet short and failed to
make par, forcing the playoff.
''I was really nervous coming down the
stretch. I was shaking like a leaf,''
Lincicome said. ''It's hard to do
anything when you're shaking.''
Pettersen, a two-time major winner,
started the day a shot behind as she
chased her first win this year. But her
day went badly at the start and she shot
4-over 76. She tied for sixth at 5 under
with Lewis, Julieta Granada, Shanshan
Feng and Lee.
Park's clutch birdie putt at No. 17 put
her in position to challenge and her par
save at 18 was crucial. Her approach on
the closing hole landed in the rough to
the right of the green and she botched
her shot out. Her 12-foot putt left no
margin for error and the crowd roared
when it rolled in.
Lincicome had held the 54-hole lead at a
major only once before, at the 2006 U.S.
Women's Open, but she faltered with a
closing 78 and finished seventh. This
time, she shook off the nerves until the
end as the chance to win her second
major ended in disappointment. Lincicome
won the 2009 Kraft Nabisco.
The tour made the switch this year to
Monroe after 37 years at nearby Locust
Hill. The Donald Ross-designed course is
about 300 yards longer at 6,717 yards
and does not have a single water hazard,
but it does feature 106 bunkers, more
than double the number at Locust Hill,
and the wider fairways favored long
hitters.
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