HSBC Women’s Champions
Sentosa Golf Club – The Serapong Course
Singapore
Final Round Notes
March 8, 2015
World No. 2 Inbee Park defeated No. 1 Lydia Ko and No. 3 Stacy Lewis in the final round to win the 2015 HSBC Women’s Champions after leading wire-to-wire. Sunday featured the marquee match-up everyone wanted to see and Inbee Park walked away on top thanks to a bogey-free tournament. It was the 13th victory of her career.
Of her wire-to-wire win, Inbee said, “That’s a big accomplishment for me, and I think I’ve done that probably once before only, and to have a pressure every day since Thursday, I think it’s something that I should be really proud of. I mean, I think it’s a lot harder to do wire to wire than coming from behind.”
Park hasn’t carded a bogey since the third round of the Honda LPGA Thailand, a streak of five consecutive bogey-free rounds. After her win, she couldn’t believe she hadn’t made a bogey for 72 holes
“This week was just incredible,” Park reflected. “I don’t think I can even believe myself that I didn’t make any bogeys for 72 holes. I mean, if I thought about bogeys, when am I going to make bogey; if I was afraid of the bogeys, I’d probably make bogeys. But I thought, whatever happens, it’s just meant to be.”
Park, whose previous best finish at the HSBC Women’s Champions was a T4 in 2014, will remain the No. 2 player in the world after besting Ko by two strokes today. Ko walked away impressed with the performance she saw.
“She played great all week,” Ko said of Inbee. “No bogeys around here and on a course where you can hit a good shot and you can get bad luck. She made no bogeys. That’s pretty phenomenal.”
Lewis, who was even par for the day, wasn’t able to keep pace with Park and Ko as the two pulled away in the end.
“It was fun out there, Lewis said of playing with Park and Ko. “It was fun being in the final group. That’s where you want to be. But even par usually doesn’t cut it.”
| Leaderboard | |||||
| Player | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | To Par |
| Inbee Park | 66 | 69 | 68 | 70 | -15 |
| Lydia Ko | 68 | 70 | 67 | 70 | -13 |
| Stacy Lewis | 69 | 69 | 67 | 72 | -11 |
WHO HAS WON the HSBC Women’s Champions (*Won in a playoff)
Inbee Park becomes the eighth different winner of the HSBC Women’s Champions. Below is the list of past champions in Singapore.
Player Year
Inbee Park 2015
Paula Creamer 2014*
Stacy Lewis 2013
Angela Stanford 2012*
Karrie Webb 2011
Ai Miyazato 2010
Jiyai Shin 2009
Lorena Ochoa 2008
ROLEX PROJECTIONS
Lydia Ko remained the No. 1 player in the world even after her runner-up finish to Inbee Park at the HSBC Women’s Champions.
PARK WON THE BET
Prior to the start of the 2015 HSBC Women’s Champions, Inbee Park made a bet with her dad. She thought the Serapong Course at Sentosa Golf Club was a tough course and she was happy if she just shot par. It provided her a little extra motivation this week.
The bet was $500 if she made birdie and double, $1000 if she made bogey. Final score: Inbee $7,500 and her dad $0.
“I think it ended up really nicely, Inbee joked. “It gave me extra motivation I guess. It’s so fun and something other to motivate on and something else to concentrate on. Yeah, it’s good to have a family here and they are big energy. This week just went so quick. I was just having — after golf, I just have dinner with them and kind of chat with them. Every day went so quick, I didn’t have to think about so much golf when I’m not on the golf course, so I think that was a big help.”
GOOD SPORT
Long after her runner-up finish at the HSBC Women’s Champions, Lydia Ko stood and singed autographs for fans and posed for photos. Even as she walked off 18, she had a smile on her face and was waving to her fans.
After two consecutive wins, she wasn’t able to come away with the third but she wasn’t disappointed.
“On this course, it’s not that hard to lose shots,” Ko said. “There are some lip outs and there are so many close ones. But I finished well with a birdie on 18, and I had a great stretch of three weeks, and I would have never imagined to have one second place and two wins.”
As for her plans tonight, she will spend it just like any other normal 17-year old and go to the Night Safari in Singapore before heading back to the U.S. tomorrow.
HSBC Women’s Champions Airtimes
Didn’t get a chance to see Inbee Park win the HSBC Women’s Champions? Below is a re-air time for the final round.
Tuesday 3/10
11:00AM – 1:00PM ET
Final Round (re-air)
*Re-air times are subject to change.
Numbers to know
1 - Number of wire-to-wire winners this season on the LPGA Tour. Inbee becomes the first since Christina Kim at the 2014 Lorena Ochoa Invitational
5- Number of winners in 2015 who were born in Korea
8 - Number of different winners at the HSBC Women’s Champions
13- Inbee Park now has 13 career LPGA wins
92- Consecutive holes played without making bogey for Inbee Park
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I’ll probably play a lot more with Lydia, a lot more often. I just can’t believe that I’m playing with somebody who can’t even drink (laughter).” - Inbee Park when asked about playing with No. 1 Lydia Ko in today’s final round
Lydia Ko Takes Home February’s Kia Most Compelling Performance Award
Lydia Ko’s sixth career LPGA victory at the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open has been named the 2015 season’s first Kia Most Compelling Performance.
In her last eight LPGA starts, Ko has now won twice and posted six additional top-10 finishes dating back to last year. With her victory in Australia, Ko became the youngest player in history -- male or female -- to achieve 10 professional wins. Jiyai Shin had previously held that distinction at 19-years-old.
The 2015 Kia Most Compelling Performance Award winner will be announced at the season-ending 2015 CME Group Tour Championship following an online fan vote (fan voting begins October 1, 2015).
For more information on the Kia Performance Awards, visit http://www.lpga.com/players/kia-performance-awards
Show me the eagles
Six total eagles were made over the weekend at the HSBC Women’s Champions and players raised $6,000 for the Wounded Warrior Project as part of the season-long Wounded Warrior Project® Weekends.
The six eagles this weekend pushes the season-total to $29,000.
Wounded Warrior Project® Weekends is a season-long charity program that will be tied into the Race to the CME Globe. Each Saturday and Sunday at LPGA tournaments, CME Group will donate $1,000 to Wounded Warrior Project® for each eagle that is recorded. This amount will increase to $5,000 for each eagle during the weekend of the CME Group Tour Championship and a formal check will be presented to the Wounded Warrior Project® during the trophy ceremony at the CME Group Tour Championship. To get involved and learn more, visit woundedwarriorproject.org.
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