LPGA Hall of Fame member Inbee Park is back in one of her favorite stops on the LPGA Tour. Park, who has competed in every edition of the LOTTE Championship, has been coming to Hawaii since she was a child and said the place is a familiar spot to be in.
“As soon as you land at the airport you feel like you're in paradise, in a vacation and not here to work.
But I feel like I'm just here for a nice, great vacation week,” said Park. “So trying to enjoy that relaxed atmosphere. The people here are really nice. I love the food in Hawaii. I just love being here.”
Park feels comfortable at the LOTTE Championship, and feels she’s done just about everything but win. Since the tournament’s debut in 2012, Park has earned four top-4 finishes, including a runner-up performance in 2015, after Sei Young Kim defeated her in the first playoff hole with an eagle at Ko Olina Golf Club. The 21-time Tour winner hopes to build off those past experiences as she looks to add to an already impressive 2021, where she won in her season debut at the Kia Classic and finished T7 at the ANA Inspiration.
“I think I'm just really getting close to my 100% and not feeling rusty at all. I felt great playing the two weeks in California. I played really well. Obviously the first win was great. I mean, it definitely gave me a lot of confidence going into the season. And the first major could have been a little bit better, but I feel like I played pretty good,” said Park. “My game is just in a good shape and it's going in a good direction.”
Even with the tournament’s change in course, Park has mapped out her strategy for this week at Kapolei Golf Club.
“The greens are quite small and it's all actually a little bit elevated greens. So once you miss the greens it's going to be very tough up and down, but it's going to give us plenty of opportunity if we hit good second shots in. So I think it's really great second-shot golf course. You have to hit really good shots on your iron shots and obviously putt good,” said Park. “The putting surface is pretty much similar to Ko Olina. It's going to be like a similar grass and probably a similar -- maybe a little bit quicker over here.
But it's grainy as we always know in playing in the hot weather. It's always - grain is gonna come into effect. Just going to try to watch that.”
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