The Korea Herald

소아쌤

Park In-bee stretches lead

By Korea Herald

Published : June 30, 2013 - 20:07

    • Link copied

SOUTHAMPTON, New York (AP) ― Park In-bee was mad, even if it didn’t show in her always placid demeanor.

She had made bogey, her third straight, on a hole she thought she should have birdied, and the world’s top-ranked player was looking a bit shaky.

Time for a clutch putt.

Park is now one round away from history, leading the U.S. Women’s Open by four strokes. She shot 1-under 71 on Saturday in harsh conditions at Sebonack and was 10 under for the tournament.

Fellow South Korean Kim In-kyung had a 73 to remain in second but lost two strokes to Park. With the wind whipping, the course set up long and the pin placements tricky, Park was the only player to shoot under par in the third round.
Korea’s Park In-bee plays a shot on the 18th green on Saturday. (AFP-Yonhap News) Korea’s Park In-bee plays a shot on the 18th green on Saturday. (AFP-Yonhap News)

No one has ever won the first three majors in a year when there were at least four.

“I’m just going to try to do the same thing that I did for the last three days,” Park said. “Yeah, it will be a big day. But it’s just a round of golf, and I just try not to think about it so much.”

She wasn’t too disappointed by her bogeys on the 11th and 12th; those were tough holes. But on the par-5 13th, her chip on her third shot rolled into the bunker when it should have put her in position for a birdie putt.

She still led by three strokes but appeared vulnerable ― at least by her recently lofty standards.

“That bogey was a bad bogey,” Park said, “so after that I really got my concentration going.”

She was unlucky then lucky on the par-4 14th. She thought her second shot would be pushed back by the wind, but it carried too far and settled on the ridge above the hole. No worries: Park simply holed a 30-foot, downhill putt for birdie.

“That was a big putt for me,” she said. “Those three bogeys were very tough to handle in the kind of situation that I was in.”

A hole later, she made a 15-foot birdie putt.

It looked as though nobody would break par for the day until she birdied No. 18. Only five players were under par for the tournament.