Mother Nature Raining on Inbee’s Potential Parade

It’s not been a great year weather-wise for the ladies. There was the need for marathon 36-hole Sunday finishes at both the LPGA Championship back in June and the Women’s British Open back in August. And once again – Mother Nature has put the LPGA tournament officials in the unenviable position to consider yet another 36-hole Sunday finish in the final major championship of the season.

“We’ve had nearly four inches of rain since Saturday and the golf course is extremely saturated at this point,” said Heather Daly-Donofrio, the LPGA’s senior vice president of tour operations. “It was clear when competitors were out this morning that conditions weren’t conducive to a fair and equitable competition. So the plan is to scratch those scores from today and have all players restart the first round tomorrow.”

The weather aside, the big story this week obviously is Inbee Park’s quest to become the first professional golfer to ever win four majors in a single season, an accomplishment that the 25-yr-old South Korean admits carries some enormous significance. “Four out of five majors is an amazing thing to achieve,” said Park, in her media interview earlier Wednesday evening. “When I go outside the house and go anywhere in Korea, a lot of people come up to me. It’s like I’m a celebrity.”

                                                   Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

 

That significance wasn’t lost on Park last month in the Women’s British Open, where she struggled with her game and conceded that maybe the expectations of becoming the first professional player ever to achieve such an historic accomplishment was an unavoidable distraction. But heading into the final major of the season, Park maintains that she’s feeling good about her game and has learned how to better manage the situation she finds herself in this week at the Evian. “I’m sure the experience I had at the British Open will help me through this week,” she said. “This is going to be a much better week. I feel like pressure is my friend now. I’m trying to learn from everything.”

Inbee Park has won six events this season and is comfortably leading the LPGA season money list and Player of the Year race. But standing in her way this week is Stacy Lewis, the 2nd ranked player in the world who prevailed at St. Andrews last month to win her 2nd LPGA major title. “It’s still kind of sinking in that I won there,” the 28-yr-old American said nearly a month later. “I’m just trying to hang in with her. I watch her scores, I watch what she’s doing.”

Rest assured, if Inbee Park can put together three solid rounds this week – Stacy Lewis won’t be the only one watching.

Weather permitting, the opening round of the Evian Championship is scheduled to get underway Friday morning.