Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club- East Course
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Final-round Notes and Interviews
October 14, 2012
Inbee Park made a back-nine charge in Sunday’s final round to beat defending champion Na Yeon Choi (@nychoi87) by two strokes at the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia (@SimeDarbyLPGA). Park sat two shots back at the turn but carded four of her six birdies on the final nine holes finishing 4-under par 67. The South Korean posted rounds of 69-68-65-67 to finish 15-under 269 for the week and tying the 72-hole tournament record. It is her third-career victory and second in the past six starts.
Leading preference: Of Park’s three career victories, she managed to twice come from behind with a with two-stroke deficit heading into Sunday’s final round. The major champion did so back in 2008 when she recorded her first-career win and major championship at the U.S. Women’s Open. But Park said she’d prefer to have the target on her back rather than chipping away at the lead.
“I think I prefer leading because I think it's much easier the last day,” said Park. “But, I mean, I had to play good on the final day to win. I knew that Na Yeon was really strong on this golf course and I knew she really liked this golf course. So I knew I had to go really low today to win, make a lot of birdies.”
So consistent: Park notched her tenth-consecutive top-10 finish this week and second win in six starts. It is the first time in her six-year career she has recorded two wins. Park played in the event’s inaugural year in 2010 and finished T46.
“I’m very happy to win,” said Park. “I played for the second time here, and it’s the first time I’ve won twice in one year so I'm really proud of myself for that.
“I think my golf has improved, everything, hitting the ball, chipping, putting,” said Park. “Everything has really improved. I worked really hard on my swing. I've been hitting it very solid all year. So, yeah, that gave me a lot more birdie chances.”
With her win, Park moved from fourth to second place in the Player of the Year rankings with 144 points. She also remains at the top of the Tour’s season money-list with $1,954,608.
Turning point: Na Yeon Choi carded all three of her birdies on the first eight holes and held a three-shot lead heading to the par 4 9th. She would go on to bogey the hole, something she wasn’t all too upset about at the time but thought it was the turning point of her round.
“I played well front nine, but I had one bogey on No. 9,” said Choi. “I mean, I wasn't mad after that bogey, but I think if I made par from there, maybe I could’ve played better than now.”
Choi had no birdies on the back nine and posted a double bogey on the par 3 17th to take her back three strokes of Park with one hole to play.
“I think I had bad luck, you know,” said Choi of her tee shot on 17. “My ball was unplayable (in the sand). I couldn't hit it from there. I really like to congratulate Inbee, my friend. I could see she was really nervous. She's usually not nervous at all. She was nervous today. I'm very happy my friend won this week.”
Golden ticket winners: Lizette Salas, Momoko Ueda and Mina Harigae punched their "Ticket to CME Group Titleholders" at the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia, each earning a spot in the season-ending CME Group Titleholders event, which will be held Nov. 15-18, 2012 at The TwinEagles in Naples, Fla. The second annual CME Group Titleholders is a season finale with a field made up of three qualifiers from every LPGA Tour tournament.
Of Note…Jessica Korda tied the tournament 18-hole record of 7-under 64 in Sunday’s final round. Korda started the day at T28 and finished 8th...top amateur for the week was Ariya Jutanugarn who finished 7-under 277 and T9...Rolex Rankings No. 1 Yani Tseng shot an even-par 71 on Sunday to move her to 5-over 289 for the tournament and finished T49…
Inbee Park, -15, Rolex Rankings No. 6
Na Yeon Choi, -13, Rolex Rankings No. 4
Na Yeon Choi, -13, Rolex Rankings No. 4
