Again a South Korean , but in this case rookie. Sung Hyun Park has proclaimed champion of the US Women’s Open by concluding the tournament with 277 strokes (-11), the first title she gets outside her country, while the Navarrese Carlota Ciganda finished fifth and signed her second best performance in a Grand Slam tournament after fourth place in the 2015 ANA Inspiration.
Park, 23, closed the fourth round with a card of 67 strokes (-5) to take home a $90,000 prize by edging out compatriot teenager Hye-Jin Choi, 17, who entered the tournament as an amateur and finished with 279 strokes (-9), but received no prize money.
Two other South Korean golfers, Mi Jung Hur and So Yeon Ryu, finished tied for third place with 281 strokes (-7) and a prize each of $442,479, just ahead of Spain’s Carlota Ciganda, who finished a brilliant fifth with 282 (-6) and took home $207,269.
The 27-year-old golfer from Pamplona completed the fourth round with a score of 70 strokes (-2) after making six birdies, including three on the 15th, 16th and 18th holes, but made four bogeys.
“I didn’t have a good start to the round, the final shots were not good, but then I recovered and concluded the round with better feelings,” stated Carlota. “It’s a great classification and although I could have achieved more I’m happy.”
However, the great center of attention was Park, who is already beginning to be considered the “Tiger Woods” of women’s golf, something that says it all about the class and projection that the young player is beginning to have.
Her caddie, David Jones, is the one who confirmed that this is what Park is already known as on the LPGA Tour and that says it all about the class she possesses.
Although Park has won his first tournament outside Asia, it is nothing less than the US Open, and he did it thanks to the elegance he has with his “swing”, but also very powerful.
That was what he demonstrated throughout the weekend of the tournament played at the Trump National Bedminster Club in New Jersey, owned by the Trump Organization, the company of the current president of the United States, Donald Trump, who visited the facilities on Friday and Saturday.
Park went from strength to strength and after carding rounds of 73 and 70 in the first two rounds, on Saturday and Sunday he dominated with 67 strokes in both rounds and came back from six strokes behind in the standings.
Perhaps for that reason, Park was the first to be surprised by the way it responded in the last two rounds to get the most important win it has had so far as a professional.
“To be honest with you, I still can’t believe what has happened. I feel like I’m floating on a cloud in the sky,” stated Park through a translator.
While Park enjoyed her great triumph, the great loser was the Chinese Shanshan Feng, who had led the ranking in the first three rounds and shared with Ciganda and another South Korean, Jeongeun Lee, the fifth place with 282 strokes (-6).
Feng, 27, finished the last round with a final card of 75 strokes (+3) which cost him the loss of the tournament.
Only Ciganda and Feng were able to enter the Top 10 because the rest of the places were occupied by South Korean golfers who made history for their country’s sport.
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