The World’s No. 1, Inbee Park, outdueled World’s No. 2 Suzann Pettersen on their World Ladies Championship final round showdown, firing a six-67 to her first win of 2014 by a convincing margin of five shots.
Park took the lead right away with a birdie on the Par-4 opening hole and never looked back. She birdied the second and bogey the third. But from there on, she would go on to add five more birdies—including the 18th hole—and one more bogey for the total of 24-under 268 for the tournament.
“Today was obviously the toughest day out there because of the weather,” said Park. “Everything seems to be working quite well for me, from ball striking to putting. Everything was great today so I’m just happy to be here and win my first tournament of 2014.
“Last year I was leading going into the final round and I lost to Suzann. I knew that I left something out there last year so coming back this year I definitely wanted to win and that’s what I just did.” Park added. “I had good memories from last year and better memories from this year, so I’m happy to be here. It has been a fantastic tournament.”
Pettersen was not able to match Park’s fast start as she bogeyed the Par-4 third and only managed to make birdie at the fifth and ninth holes. She would par the rest of the holes to finish with a one-under 72 for a 19-under 273 aggregate total.
“There’s room for improvement but it’s been a good week overall. My game has become a lot better over the week and I’ll be happy to come back and play this course again.” said Pettersen.
Finishing in solo third was Park’s compatriot and partner on the concurrently held Team Competition, So Yeon Ryu. She fired a bogey-free four-under to finish at 16-under 276. Along with Park, they score an aggregate of 544 won the Team Competition by 28 shots over the Chinese Team of Shanshan feng and Xi Yu Lin (572.)
Thailand’s Aryia Jutanugarn and Nontaya Srisawang were tied for third at 574 with Americans Amelia Lewis and Beth Allen.
On their Team Competition win Ryu said: “It’s always a great honour to represent your country but also gave me some pressure because I didn’t want to play badly in the team event. That gave me a lot of motivation.”
Park added: “Being in a team with So Yeon this year gave me a lot of confidence. Winning the individual and the team event is a huge honour, a double honour, so I’m very happy.”
The world’s top Amateur, Australia’s Minjee Lee (69), won the Amateur competition by finishing in a tie for fourth-place at 15-under 277 alongside Jutanugarn who fired a three-under 70 on Sunday. She finished 14 shots ahead of China’s Yan Jing.
The top local finisher was World’s No. 7 Shanshan Feng who shot a one-under 72 and finished in a tie for 12th place.