ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – One year ago, Inbee Park was hard at work on her game. But the 2015 Ricoh Women’s British Open champion wasn’t preparing for her title defense, rather she was getting ready for the Olympic games two weeks later in Rio. She skipped more than a month of the season, including the trip to Woburn Golf Club, to rehab a nagging thumb injury. Park made history by winning Olympic gold, but not being able to defend her title has stuck with her over the last year.
“I definitely missed coming to the British Open. It’s one of my favorite tournaments to come and play,” Park told the media on Tuesday. “Even though it is always the toughest week that we play all year, I think because we are having such a tough time, it sticks in our mind for such a long time.”
For the rest of us, it was Park’s performance at Trump Turnberry that stuck with people that week. She carded a final round 7-under par, 65 to come from three-strokes back to win her fourth different major title and complete the Career Grand Slam.
“That’s why I still remember 2015 like [it was] yesterday. I know how special it was to have all the family here and being able to complete the Grand Slam here in the Ricoh Women’s British Open. It is a special place and a special spot for me. It is still in my mind. I still live with that memory.”
Park returned to Turnberry on Monday of last week, along with her family, where she played the course and took time to think back on her seventh major title.
That week, Park outlasted the field by successfully navigating the unpredictable weather conditions that go hand-in-hand with links golf, topped off with 65 for the lowest final round carded by a Ricoh champion since 2004. This week, it’ll be much the same at Kingsbarns Golf Links, where rain and wind are forecasted for all four Tournament days.
“It’s a very wind dependent golf course,” Park said. “Getting to the green sometimes because a challenge when the wind blows hard. So, you’ve got to know how to play knock-down shots and how to play low and how to hold it up in the wind and all sorts of shots.”
But the mental test is just as tough as the physical. Park is ready for both.
“You just have to be prepared, prepared to be frustrated and prepared that you get the sunny conditions for the first nine and you get the wind, rain and everything, cold weather, on the back nine,” Park explained. “You’ve just got to be prepared for all things, you’ve got be open to all things, you just prepare for anything [that] can happen out here, and never give up because you just don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Anything can happen when it comes to links golf. But if the LPGA Tour Hall of Famer could, this week, win her eighth major title?
Now that, would stick with us all.
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