By ,
Published May 02, 2016
Singapore (SportsNetwork.com) - Inbee Park fired a 2-under 70 in Sunday's final round and she went on to win wire-to-wire by two shots at the HSBC Women's Champions.
Park, the No. 2 player in the world, finished the week at 15-under-par 273, picking up her 13th career victory. The former world No. 1 won three times on the LPGA Tour last season and has five career major titles.
"That's a big accomplishment for me, and I think I've done that probably once before only, and to have a pressure every day since Thursday, I think it's something that I should be really proud of," Park said about her wire-to-wire win. "I mean, I think it's a lot harder to do wire-to-wire than coming from behind."
World No. 1 Lydia Ko, the winner of the Women's Australian Open two weeks ago, continued her strong play as the 17-year-old shot a 2-under 70 to finish runner-up at 13-under 275.
The third-ranked player in the world, Stacy Lewis, played in the final pairing with Park and Ko, and she shot an even-par 72. Lewis finished alone in third at 11-under 277.
Shanshan Feng (69), So Yeon Ryu (70) and Azahara Munoz (71) ended the week tied for fourth at minus-10 on the Serapong Course at Sentosa Golf Club.
Taking a 2-shot lead into the day over Ko and Lewis, Park cruised to victory, going bogey-free for the entire week.
"This week was just incredible," said Park. "I don't think I can even believe myself that I didn't make any bogeys for 72 holes. I mean, if I thought about bogeys, when am I going to make a bogey; if I was afraid of the bogeys, I'd probably make bogeys. But I thought whatever happens, it's just meant to be."
It was virtually a three-player race throughout most of the day, but Park was able to keep everyone at bay. After three straight pars from No. 1, Ko and Lewis were able to get within one with birdies on No. 4.
Ko made it back-to-back birdies with a gain on five, which vaulted her into a share of the lead with Park at minus-13. The duo stayed deadlocked when they both made birdies on No. 7, putting Lewis two back.
A bogey on the par-3 eighth dropped Ko back a shot, giving Park the outright lead once again and she never relinquished it.
Following five straight pars from five, Lewis bogeyed the par-4 10th, dropping her back three shots and she never really recovered. Lewis made a birdie on 13, but that was her last gain of the day. A bogey at the last dropped her four shots off the pace at the end of the tournament.
After making a trio of pars from eight, Park holed another big birdie on No. 11, moving her advantage back to two. Park did not need another birdie the rest of the day.
Three straight pars from nine preceded back-to-back bogeys on 12 and 13 for Ko, which dropped her four shots back at minus-11. While Ko was able to finish strong with gains on 15 and 18, it was not enough.
Park cruised to the finish with seven straight pars from No. 11, completing her fifth straight bogey-free round and securing her 13th career title.
"She played great all week," Ko said of Park. "No bogeys around here and on a course where you can hit a good shot and you can get bad luck. She made no bogeys. That's pretty phenomenal."
NOTES: Park's last bogey came in the third round of last week's Honda LPGA Thailand ... Park made just four birdies on the front nine all week to go along with 32 pars ... Ko now has one win, two runner-up finishes and a tie for seventh in four events on tour this season ... Ko was seeking her third consecutive victory after also winning the New Zealand Open last week ... With the win, Park earned $210,000 ... The LPGA is off next week, but it returns to the U.S. in two weeks for the Founders Cup in Arizona, where Karrie Webb outlasted a packed leaderboard to win last year.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/park-goes-wire-to-wire-to-win-in-singapore