With the LPGA Tour taking another breather on the schedule this week, Inbee Park will have some extra time to reflect on her accomplishments from Sunday.
She will have a few days to wrap her mind around the fact that she won for the fourth time this season, added a seventh major championship to her resume to complete the Career Grand Slam and clinch the Rolex ANNIKA Major Award all in one swoop. With two major championships this year, the Republic of Korea native has an insurmountable lead in the RAMA standings and will join Michelle Wie (2014) as a winner of the treasured award.
Park’s stellar 65 on Sunday further added to her legacy and was the latest in a great list of accomplishments for a player who seems destined for the LPGA Tour and World Golf Halls of Fame.
The world’s top-ranked player, Park could have some fun spending part of her $450,000 winner’s check as the Tour pauses for an early August break. This week off precedes a three-week stretch that will see players tee it up in Portland, Vancouver and Prattville, Ala., and battle for $4.85 million in prize money.
The LPGA is at the 20-event mark in its 2015 season, and with just 12 more events remaining in addition to the Solheim Cup, money, points and chances to move up in the rankings are growing slimmer. After a week off to rest, recover and enjoy life, Tour members will head to Portland for the $1.3 million Cambia Portland Classic, where Austin Ernst will defend her lone LPGA title.
From there, it’s back to Canada for the $2.25 million Canadian Pacific Women’s Open, a 72-hole tournament featuring So Yeon Ryu as its defending champion. Those two events are players’ final chances to earn points for the Solheim Cup, which will take place Sept. 18-20 in Sankt Leon-Rot, Germany.
The upcoming three-week stretch closes with the $1.3 million Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic in Prattville, Ala., and Mi Jung Hur will be looking to successfully defend her title there. Then, the Tour will take another week off before the final major of the season – The Evian Championship – is conducted Sept. 10-13 across the pond.
That should be a great tune-up for the Solheim Cup, where country pride will be on full display as Team Europe goes for three wins in a row.
All of that will come in due time, and it will be interesting to see how players use this off week to prepare and plan for the stretch run.
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