Watch out for Inbee Park if she gets hot and wins early this season. That usually sets the 27-year-old South Korean star off on a spectacular season.

Park has been noted throughout her career for relatively slow starts to seasons, including this year where she withdrew with a bad back at the Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic following a first-round 80 (only her second career round in the 80s, with an 81 at the 2009 Wegmans LPGA) and placed T30 at last week’s Honda LPGA Thailand.

“Fall and winter, I’m horrible,” Park said in the Bahamas. “Sometimes, in winter time when I play, I’m like, `You’re so bad.’ The first couple tournaments I feel like I’m a totally different player. I get disappointed in the first couple tournaments always. All 10 years I’ve played on tour, all 10 years I'm thinking, ‘Am I really a professional golfer?’ Just got to just keep trusting yourself that you're going to get in shape in a couple months.”

Of her 17 career LPGA victories, Park has won just twice before April. But those early season victories were both fire starters. The Feb. 24, 2013 win at the Honda LPGA Thailand started one of the best seasons in LPGA history, with six victories and wins in the first three major championships of the season, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, Wegmans LPGA Championship and U.S. Women’s Open. The win last March at the HSBC Women’s Champions was the first of five wins in 2015, including wins in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and Ricoh Women’s British Open that completed the Career Grand Slam.

This week, she is in contention again at the HSBC Women’s Champions in Singapore, proving that familiar ground can bring good vibes. Last year she played a bogey-free tournament and carried that streak on through the 17^th hole in the first round on Thursday where a bogey stopped the tournament bogey-less streak at 88 holes.

“I wish I’m ready but I just came back to competition after about of month of break after having a back injury,” Park said prior to the start of the Singapore event. “I feel like I’m definitely in better shape than I was last week or a month ago. It’s just getting better and better, but I just don't want to rush for anything.

“It’s just going to take time, and we have a long season, and especially I’d like to play well in the summertime. So I really like to get myself -- build myself and get ready to play in the summertime.”

In addition to her back injury, her father-in-law passed away during the offseason, making it difficult to focus on 2016.

However, she has many incentives for the year. With her 10^th year of LPGA membership and numerous accomplishments, she earns a spot in the LPGA Hall of Fame. She is also pursuing the No. 1 ranking in the Rolex Women’s Rankings, which she has held for 92 weeks in her career and lost to Lydia Ko last October. Additionally, there are the usual five major championships, the second playing of the International Crown and the return of Olympic golf to the schedule for the first time in 112 years.

All of these major tournaments and events occur right in middle of Park’s peak season, the summer.

Watch Out for Park if she wins Early

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