LPGA TEXAS CLASSIC

Final-Round Notes and Statistics

Volunteers of America LPGA Texas Classic

Old American Golf Club

The Colony, Texas

May 6, 2018

LEADERBOARD

1, -11 (131) – Rolex Rankings No. 5 Sung Hyun Park

2, -10 (132) – Rolex Rankings No. 114 Lindy Duncan

3, -9 (133) – Rolex Rankings No. 278 Yu Liu

This week’s transcripts available at: https://tee-scripts.com/transcripts/lpga-tour/

ONLINE MEDIA CENTER

media.lpga.com

SUNG HYUN PARK IS GOING TO BE A STAR FOR A LONG TIME

The Volunteers of America Texas Classic at the Old American Golf Club unfolded in an old American golf sort of way, harking back to bygone days when groups were not repaired and leaders often didn’t play together in the final round. Reduced to 36 holes because of weather, nature created a unique situation in which Aditi Ashok, a 20-year-old rising star from India, was in the clubhouse at 7 under par hours before Jenny Shin and Sung Hyun Park, both at 6 under, teed off for their final round.

Park, the 2017 Rookie of the Year and co-Player of the Year, knew what she had to do but stumbled right out of the box, making a bogey on No. 1 to fall two back. Then it was lights out as she eagled No. 4 and made birdies on Nos. 6, 8 and 9 to turn at 10 under par. The 24-year-old South Korean closed with a 66 to finish 36 holes at 11-under-par 131 for her third LPGA win, one stroke better than Lindy Duncan. Yu Liu of China was third at 133.

It was a crazy finish with the winner ending her round on No. 18 and the runner-up on No. 9. And Park put an emphatic exclamation mark on her round. Nursing a two-stroke lead when she teed off on her final hole with several of her challengers having enough holes left to catch her, Park put the tournament away when she hit a sweet bump-and-run chip from behind the 18th green that found the cup for a closing birdie. At that point, no one of the course had a realistic chance of closing the gap.

“I knew it was a pretty important shot,” said Park, who has struggled with her short game this year. “It was a difficult shot and I’m glad I made it. I know my stats are a little bit off in my short game, but I’ve been working hard an it paid off today.”

To read Ron Sirak’s full recap, visit: http://www.lpga.com/news/2018-ron-sirak-on-sung-hyun-park-win

LINDY DUNCAN HAS BREAKOUT WEEK

Lindy Duncan wasn’t happy after the 2017 season. She had a pair of top 10 finishes, but also missed seven cuts.

The former All-American at Duke already has secured her second top 10 finish of 2018.

She closed birdie-birdie-birdie to finish at 10-under after a 64, the low round of the weekend.

“I needed to clean my stuff up,” said Duncan about her feelings after 2017. “It’s awesome, I’m super excited. It was a grind out there, we were just trying to focus on every shot and we did.”

For more on Lindy Duncan and “Five Things to Know,” visit: http://www.lpga.com/news/2018-five-things-voa-lpga-texas-classic-sunday

THE STREAK CONTINUES...

Sung Hyun Park became the 11th different winner of the 2018 season with her win at the Volunteers of America LPGA Texas Classic.

In 2017, the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give marked the 15th event of the season with 15 different winners, matching 1991 for the longest the Tour has gone without having a repeat champion.

2018 Wins by Country

4 – United States (Brittany Lincicome, Jessica Korda, Michelle Wie, Sung Hyun Park)

3 – Republic of Korea (Jin Young Ko, Inbee Park, Eun-Hee Ji)

1 – Sweden (Pernilla Lindberg*)

1 – Canada (Brooke Henderson)

1 – Thailand (Moriya Jutanugarn)

1 – New Zealand (Lydia Ko)

*Major Championship

RACE TO THE CME GLOBE STANDINGS

With her win, Park earns 500 points in the Race to the CME Globe and is projected to move from 55th to 14th in the Race standings with 728.

LEADERS TOP 10 COMPETITION

With her T4 finish this week, Ariya Jutanugarn remains at the top of the season-long LEADERS Top 10 competition with seven top-10 finishes on the season. Jin Young Ko is second with six top-10s.

The LEADERS Top 10 competition awards a $100,000 bonus to the LPGA player with the most top-10 finishes through the completion of the Blue Bay LPGA (Nov. 7-10). In the event of a tie in total top-10 finishes, the award will go to the player with the most official wins, followed by most second-place finishes, third-place finishes, etc., until the tie is broken.

NOTABLE QUOTES

Sung Hyun Park (-11, 131), on the key to the win:

“This tournament I practiced a lot on my chipping and so that was a really big turning point for me today, so my confidence level was really high, and I think that’s really helped me today.”

Lindy Duncan (-10, 132), on her career-best finish:

“I felt like it was coming. You know, I felt like it was going to happen eventually, and I was just trying to be patient. And I think that’s the key going forward, is just like keep working on the same things. And, like, I had the most patience this week I think I have had in a long time. And little things that normally bother me didn’t. And so I got to make sure that I keep that up, because you can’t out here, it’s just too tough.”

Yu Liu (-9, 133), on what changed today with her confidence:

“I was thinking about my scores too much, thinking about the cut line, my finish, my position. Right now I feel like I’m able to contend out here when I bring out my best. So it’s definitely a confidence booster.”

QUICK HITS

Sung Hyun Park collected her third career LPGA victory; she won twice in her rookie season at the 2017 U.S. Women’s Open and the 2017 CP Women’s Open; she has 10 career victories on the KLPGA

Park’s 36-hole score of -11 (131) is the 36-hole tournament scoring record, besting the previous low 36-hole score of -10 (132) by Gerina Piller in 2016

In 2018, Park has made six cuts in eight starts, with one victory and one additional top-10 finish

Park made 13 starts between her last victory and today; she had five top-10 finishes in that span

Park tied with So Yeon Ryu for 2017 Rolex Player of the Year honor and became the first player to win Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year awards in the same year since Nancy Lopez in 1978

Several players locked in career-best finishes on Sunday including: Lindy Duncan (2), Yu Liu (3), Aditi Ashok (T6), Jackie Stoelting (T8) and Celine Boutier (T12)

Duncan’s 7-under par round of 64 is her career-best mark

2018 LPGA rookie Liu’s third-place finish is her first career top-20 finish and her final-round 66 is her career-best

2017 LPGA rookie Aditi Ashok (-7) finished T6 for her best-career finish on the LPGA, besting her previous career-best finish of T7 that she collected at last week’s LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship; its her third career top-10 finish

11 players represented six different countries in the top 10: Republic of Korea (Sung Hyun Park, Sei Young Kim, Jenny Shin, Mi Hyang Lee, Jin Young Ko), USA (Lindy Duncan, Jackie Stoelting), China (Yu Liu), Thailand (Ariya Jutanugarn), India (Aditi Ashok) and New Zealand (Lydia Ko)

The 2018 Volunteers of America LPGA Texas Classic is the first 36-hole LPGA event since the 2013 Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic, which was also shortened due to weather

IN OTHER NEWS

ON THE SYMETRA TOUR

University of Virginia product Elizabeth Szokol won the IOA Invitational on Sunday firing a 4-under par final round 68.