If Sunday was any indication of the status of Inbee Park’s golf game, then she should be favored to successfully defend her title North of the border this week.
Park – who fired a final-round 68 to move into a tie for fifth at the ShopRite LPGA Classic Presented by Acer – is playing some great golf heading into the first of two consecutive title defenses. This week, she is looking to repeat at the Manulife LPGA Classic in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, where she set an LPGA record for lowest final round with a 61 last year to finish three strokes clear of Cristie Kerr.
Park has two victories and five other top-10 finishes this season and tied for 14th and second in Canada in 2013 and 2012, respectively. The par-72, 6,613-yard Whistle Bear Golf Club is the tournament’s new home, and it remains to be seen if it will surrender as many birdies and red numbers as Grey Silo Golf Course in Waterloo, the event’s course for its first three years.
The links-style course features 103 bunkers, water on 10 holes and plenty of fescue to ruin a player’s day, so it should be a solid test for the world’s best women’s golfers.
The way Park is playing right now, even a change of venue should do little to derail her this week. Her fellow competitors, however, would love to do just that as the Tour makes its first of two stops in Canada in 2015.
Whether it’s last week’s winner Anna Nordqvist, world No. 1 Lydia Ko, two-time and reigning Rolex Player of the Year Stacy Lewis or fellow past Manulife LPGA Classic champions Hee Young Park or Brittany Lang, Park has plenty of worthy challengers. In addition, 2015 tournament winners Brittany Lincicome, Sei Young Kim, Hyo Joo Kim, Cristie Kerr, Minjee Lee and Na Yeon Choi are also teeing it up in the $1.5 million tournament.
Park will have her hands full with those top players and many more, and this is the time of year numerous stars are beginning to put together multiple sub-par rounds, so the weekend should be full of drama. The tournament is the last event before the LPGA’s second major of the season, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship – where Park will go for three wins in a row.
The Tour stars who end up battling for this week’s title on Sunday could be the ones who contend for next week’s major crown, so it should be a great litmus test for where everyone’s game is and who is on the inside track. It will all unfold on Golf Channel, the LPGA’s go-to network and valued partner, and it should be great fun to watch.
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