Lorena Ochoa Invitational Presented by Banamex and JTBC
Club de Golf Mexico
Mexico City, Mexico
Pre-tournament Notes
Inbee Park already accomplished her 2015 goal of winning the RICOH Women’s British Open, but that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have her eye on another for the season’s last two events. Park trails Lydia Ko in the Race to the CME Globe, Vare Trophy, Rolex Player of the Year and money list standings and would love to get all of those titles back after Stacy Lewis swept the last three and Lydia Ko took the Race to the CME Globe title a year ago. Shockingly, two tremendous seasons for Park could end without any of the major season-ending awards.
“Everybody is talking about it, I think I got everybody really interested and I really had a close race with Stacy last year, and with Lydia this year” Park said. “So I just have to finish really strong this last couple of weeks. I had a really good couple of weeks and achieved what I wanted to achieve this year, so I’m just trying to enjoy this two weeks and have a strong finish.”
But those end-of-season awards are auxiliary goals, more products of what would be a major turnaround for her at the CME Group Tour Championship. Despite being one of the best players on the planet with wins at seemingly every stop the Tour makes, the CME Group Tour Championship hasn’t been quite as kind to Park. Last year she finished in a tie for 24th and her fifth place finish in 2013 is her best of three career starts after finishing in a tie for 11th in 2012.
“I haven’t really won the Tour Championship and winning it would really be a nice goal to set,” Park said. “And my family is coming next week so I will have some more energy.”
Park says part of her struggles at the Tour Championship have mirrored the way she’s finished seasons. Her best golf always comes in the summer and then she hasn’t been able to maintain the record breaking form she sets in the summer. With two weeks remaining on the schedule, she’s hoping she can somewhat change that narrative this week.
“I had a great year, I just couldn’t finish it off. I just think my good times are in the middle of the summer. I always play good in the summer,” Park said. “And in the fall and winter, I don’t play as good as in the summer time. I’m just trying to figure out how to do better in the fall. I just think I kind of run a little bit out of energy. So I got to have a little bit more motivation.”
Whether that’s the issue or not, Park’s hoping a little added motivation and relaxed mind can help her finish strong and hopefully solve the riddle that’s been the Bermuda greens at Tiburon Golf Club next week.
“I think it’s the Bermuda greens. I have always had a problem with them,” Park said. “Bent grass is my favorite. It’s hard to win when you don’t putt well, so it’s going to be hard for me to win with the greens, but I’ve done it before on Bermuda so it’s just a matter of focus.”
KERR'S BACK FEELING FINE
Cristie Kerr first felt the twinge in her back before the Solheim Cup. The more she played, the worse it got until she finally had to withdraw at the LPGA KEB HanaBank Championship after the first round. But she’s back in her first action since this week at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational and says she isn’t feeling any pain.
“Actually I did completely the right thing going home when I was in Korea. It was something really wrong with it,” Kerr said, “and it got better then worse. It was really flared up.”
Kerr went home and got an MRI, which showed that she had a strain in a ligament in her back. She got a trigger shot injection in the muscle and didn’t pick up a club for a week and half. Luckily, this isn’t believed to be an injury that will linger, and Kerr says she’s been working on core strengthening exercises to help the back.
“I’m getting on a pretty intensive program when the season ends,” Kerr said. “I started kind of doing the program that I used to do during these three weeks and now I’m going to go see a golf specific trainer therapist in Phoenix. I’m getting in a really good program, especially with the Olympics coming on so I want to get the best chance to try to make the team.”
PARK'S FINGER A NON ISSUE
Inbee Park is back in action this week at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational Presented by Banamex and JTBC after having to withdraw for only the second time in her career at her last start at the Blue Bay LPGA. Park had a cyst on her middle finger that got to the point that it was difficult to hold onto the club so she had to withdraw and take a rest from golf. But after visiting with her doctor and taking a week break from golf, she says she’s feeling no pain in the finger now.
“Not any more. I had a fluid inside so we popped it,” Park said. “I let it rest for two or three days and now it’s fine. I’m ready to play cause I haven’t played in a couple of weeks so it’s just a matter of getting used to the feel and the course.”
Park said that the doctors told her it was a simple wear-and-tear issue and not something that should linger. She also didn’t require surgery to remove the cyst, which was a benefit to the healing time.
“It just happened, you know too much usage,” Park said. “I obviously needed like a week of break which I hadn’t had in a couple weeks so it was a nice three or four days without doing anything and should be able to heal. So I’m ready to play again.”
LOUISE SUGGS ROLEX ROOKIE OF THE YEAR EARNS HER ICING ON THE CAKE
Every where Sei Young Kim goes this week, the congratulations roll in. The 22-year-old South Korean won three times already in 2015 and locked up the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year honors Sunday when Hyo Joo Kim, her nearest competitor, failed to win the TOTO Japan Classic.
Kim said that outside of making the Olympics team in 2016 for South Korea, winning the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year award was one of her biggest goals for 2015. Kim recently got her Rolex Women’s World Golf Ranking up to No. 7, which would be among the top four Korean players guaranteed to make the Olympics and International Crown team, and then she got an additional present Sunday with the clinching of Rolex Rookie of the Year honors.
“My first goal was the Olympics, but I got Rookie of the Year, and it was like the icing on the cake,” Kim said.
It’s a far cry from where Kim started the year. She opened at the Coates Golf Championship with a 79 in the first round and missed the cut there. But she went on to capture her first career win the very next week, tying Karrie Webb as the second fastest player ever to win as a rookie. It’s Kim’s favorite memory in a year full of amazing ones.
“My first win cause I was cause I missed the cut at the first event, and I thought, ‘Am I going back to Korea?’” Kim said. “But I really cherished the first win, and now I have confidence and that is great.”
IF I HAD A MILLION DOLLARS
Sei Young Kim hasn’t thought about what she would do if she wins $1 million next week at the CME Group Tour Championship, but her eyes certaintly lit up at the opportunity.
If Kim wins this week, she would jump into the top three for the Race to the CME Globe standings, which would ensure that she controls her own destiny in her chase for the $1 million Race to the CME Globe prize. A win at the CME Group Tour Championship, and Kim would win the $1 million - a possibility she just recently found out about.
“Last night my dad called me about that!” Kim exclaimed, “and I was like ‘Oh, really!”
Regardless of her new found knowledge, she says her game plan won’t change over the next two weeks and she won’t allow herself to think about the million.
“Just you know step by step and focus,” Kim said. “If it comes, I’ll be happy.”
LOPEZ RETURNS HOME TO MEXICO CITY
Arkansas Razorback Gaby Lopez, a Mexico City native, is back in action for her third LPGA start of 2015. Lopez, the runner-up at the NCAA Championship, finished in a tie for 29th at her last LPGA start at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship Presented by P&G. Lopez is a sponsor exemption this week and grew up idolizing Lorena Ochoa.
Lopez also made the field at the U.S. Women’s Open through local qualifying but missed the cut.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
1 - Regardless of whether or not Inbee Park wins this week, Lydia Ko will enter the CME Group Tour Championship with the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 spot still in her grasp. Ko also will lead the money list, Race to the CME Globe, Vare Trophy and Rolex Player of the Year standings heading into the final event of the season.
2 - Only twice in Inbee Park’s career has she had to withdraw from a tournament.
3 - There are three players from Mexico here in the field this week - Margarita Ramos, Gaby Lopez and Alejandro Llaneza.
8 - Eight players - Lydia Ko, Inbee Park, Sei Young Kim, Stacy Lewis, Lexi Thompson, Amy Yang, So Yeon Ryu and Anna Nordqvist are all locked into the top nine heading into the CME Group Tour Championship next week. Shanshan Feng’s final spot in the top nine could be overtaken this week by one of five players.
15 - Christina Kim won with a 15-under-par total here a year ago, beating Shanshan Feng on the second playoff hole with a par.
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