Notable Quotes
Sei Young Kim, Rep. of Korea (63-65-64-65, -31), on breaking the all-time LPGA 72-hole scoring record:
“I would never thought about it when I was young, about the course record. But after two years ago JTBC I shoot a 27-under; that’s tie record with Annika Sorenstam. After that, I wanted to -- really wanted course record. Yeah, I’m very happy with dream come true.”
Katherine Kirk, Australia (62-71-69-71, -15), on Sei Young Kim’s performance:
“In a word, phenomenal. We knew that you could go low around this golf course, but she’s, yeah, taken it to a whole ‘nother level.”
Emma Talley, United States (65-68-68-67), on getting help with her game:
"My dad actually helped me with my putting in Arkansas, which was two tournaments ago, so last week was kind of a tester. This week my putting was great. Yeah, I've been working on my swing a little bit. After the first round my driver was bad. My boyfriend who caddies helped me with my driver, and I hit all the fairways, most of them at least, the rest of the week. Everything felt right, so hopefully I can carry that to next week."
Best Notes
- The Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic is the second tournament of the 2018 season that multiple players finished at 20-under par or better, joining the Honda LPGA Thailand; the last time five or more players finished at 20-under par or better was the 2017 Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic (seven players at -20 or better).
- Rolex Rankings No. 26 Sei Young Kim’s nine-stroke margin of victory is the largest on the LPGA Tour since the 2015 Fubon LPGA Taiwan, where Lydia Ko (-20) won by nine strokes over So Yeon Ryu and Eun-Hee Ji
- Sei Young Kim’s 31-under par total matches the PGA TOUR record for the most strokes under par (72 holes) in a win set by Ernie Els at the 2003 Mercedes Championship
- Kim had one over-par hole this week, a double-bogey on the par-3 17th during the front nine of her second round
- Kim ranked first in the field hitting 67/72 of greens in regulation (93.05%) this week; the total is the most in a single tournament in her LPGA career, besting her mark of 63/72 GIR at the 2017 Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic
- Kim ranked first in the field with 31 birdies on the week; the total is the most in a single tournament in her LPGA career, besting her mark of 29 birdies at the 2016 CP Women’s Open
- Kim is now 3-for-5 winning tournaments with at least a share of the lead heading into the final round
- With her win, Kim earns $300,000; she has earned $647,366 this season and $5,191,525 in her career, becoming the 61st player in LPGA history to break the $5 million threshold
- 2018 LPGA rookie Emma Talley (-20) recorded the best finish of her LPGA career and her third top-seven finish in 2018
- Talley scored all four rounds in the 60s in a tournament for the first time in her LPGA career and beat her previous low tournament score to par by 12 strokes.
- Eight different countries were represented in the top 14 players on the final leaderboard this week – Rep. of Korea (4), Spain, Sweden (2), USA, England (3), Chinese Taipei, Puerto Rico, Canada
- Defending champion Rolex Rankings No. 64 Katherine Kirk finished T20
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