Around the wider world of golf: The team of Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson beat Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolff when Rory won a closest-to-the-pin playoff with a wedge from 125 yards to win the TaylorMade Driving Relief charity skins match; and Connor Syme won the Royal Portrush leg of the BMW Indoor Invitational on the ET.
Hey, after two months we've got an actual Limerick Summary!
You can all thank IceCat (as I do) for this week's verse. He dropped me a comment on yesterday's post, reminding me that the KLPGA Championship had been held this past week at the Lakewood Country Club in Yangju, South Korea. For those of you who are interested, he also sent me this link to the original 150-minute live stream -- but dubbed in English -- that is now on YouTube:
The short version is that Park overcame a three-shot deficit at the start of the day with a final round 67 to win by one. She posted 17-under for the four-day event to snag her first KLPGA victory.
It may be her first win but it's not a fluke. I understand she had already entered the Top100 in the world with five Top6 finishes. This win isn't really a surprise after that kind of play.
Although the photo shows her with the trophy and no face mask, bear in mind that this event did use them. There were no fans in attendance, and during play the caddies wore masks while the players didn't have to. But I have seen photos of her receiving the trophy and, while in the presence of the presenters, Park was wearing a mask.
It seems the Korean Tours aren't completely comfortable yet, however. The Korea's Men's Open has been cancelled and there will be no other KPLGA event for two weeks. We'll have to see how things play out going forward.
But in the meantime, I can at least award a shiny new Limerick Summary to a deserving winner who wouldn't have gotten one under normal playing circumstances. Congratulation on your win, Hyun Kyung, and enjoy this bright spot in a rough sports environment!
Though Hyun Kyung Park’s fans couldn’t come,The photo came from this page at telegraph.co.uk.
In four rounds she got the job done.
Despite COVID fears
And a lack of loud cheers,
Her first win portends more to come.
We won't know where Ms. Kim's victory places her in the world rankings because they'll remain frozen until the LPGA returns, which as of last week's cancelation of the Dow Great Lakes Invitational won't happen until the Marathon Classic in late July.
ReplyDeleteWe also don't know yet whether SBS Golf, the domestic rights holder for the KLPGA, will continue to have a separate commentary team in English on YouTube or if this week was a one off. Unlike the Korean language crew (including 2007 Corning Classic winner Young Kim) who were at the course the English language team called the action from all 4 rounds from the studio.
This short video (in Korean) introduced the team:
https://youtu.be/gvnuwV_PIc8
Hyo Joo Kim and Jeong Eun Lee6 both shot 64 on Sunday, the best rounds of the week, to finish T4 and T15 respectively. Ha Na Jang finished T19, Sei Young Kim finished T46 while the highest ranked player in the field, world #3 Sung Hyun Park, missed the cut.
DeleteIC, I got that Top100 ranking from one of the articles I pulled up on Park's win. I checked and she is listed at #92 on the Rolex Rankings list for March 16. That's the last posting before COVID-19 pulled the plug on golf.
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