ORLANDO, FLORIDA | Hee Young Park was as
determined as she was anonymous and steady
Sunday at the LPGA’s season-ending CME Group
Titleholders where she held off American Paula
Creamer and German Sandra Gal by two shots.
The little-known Korean, ranked No. 58 in
the world at the beginning of the week, finished
with 10 straight pars and collected a handsome
$500,000 check for this, her first win in America.
“This is my fourth year on the LPGA,” the
24-year-old Park said. “A lot of people were
going to say why can you not win.”
She answered those critics with a closing
round of 2-under-par 70 to finish 9 under for
the week.
World No. 1 Yani Tseng shot 74 Sunday and
tied for sixth with Michelle Wie and Cristie Kerr.
“I’m very happy and proud of myself,” Tseng
said after her round. She was referring to her
11 wins worldwide in 2011.
Tseng said she was bothered during the
round by a sore left knee. But, she added, “I
just ice and a couple of days it’ll be fine.”
The most serious Sunday charge came from
Creamer, who birdied the 11th, 13th and 14th
holes to pull within two of Park.
But it was the early part of the round that
hurt Creamer.
“Got off to kind of a weird start,” she said.
It included a three-putt from four feet on the
second hole and a birdie on the third. “I have to
be proud of myself after the start I got off to to
finish where I did.”
Park entered the final round tied for the lead
at 7 under with Sandra Gal. After Gal bogeyed
the 12th, Park’s lead at the 6,518-yard, par-72
Grand Cypress Resort grew to three over Gal,
Creamer and Na Yeon Choi. Gal then birdied 13
and 14 to cut the lead back to one but suffered
a three-putt bogey at the par- 5 15th.
“Sometimes you’re the winner,” Gal said,
“sometimes you’re not. That’s how it goes. Hee
Young had great composure all day long. She’s
always smiling.”
Wie, battling a fever early on the weekend,
made a brief run early in
the final round with
four birdies in the
first eight holes.
But she ran out of
momentum.
World No. 2 Suzann Pettersen was
one shot back after 54 holes but never
fully recovered Sunday from a bogey on
11 and a double on the tough par- 3 12th.
She wound up tied for fourth with Choi.
Asked from whom she felt the most
pressure during her final round, Park said:
“My sponsors.”
Dreams Do
Come True
Congratulations to
Hee Young Park,
who has won a
$500,000 winner’s
check and received
a Rolex watch as a
first-time winner at the n
CME Group Titleholders.
