Sung Hyun Park - Source: © LPGA via Twitter

900 dollars for the first, zero for the second…

It becomes an epidemic. After the American Danielle Kang, winner of the last KPMG Women's PGA Championship on July 2 in Chicago, it is the turn of the South Korean Sung Hyun Park to win in a major tournament without ever having previously won any event. on the LPGA Tour. With a last card of 67 (six birdies, a bogey) and a total of -11, Park was awarded this Sunday, July 16 in Bedminster, near New York, the 900 dollars of prize money allocated to the first of the 000nd US Women's Open. Even though the suspense lasted until the last holes, no other player seemed able to worry her. Aside from the tournament reveal, 72-year-old Korean amateur Hye Jin Choi. Following in the footsteps of Catherine Lacoste, the only amateur to have triumphed at the US Open in July 17, Miss Choi did not go far from her own feat. A moment in the lead at -1967, she unfortunately had to register a double bogey at par 10 # 3. Her birdie at 16 only brought her down to -18 overall, two shots behind Sung Hyun Park. Only 9nd, the “little one” left Bedminster loaded with glory but with zero dollars (due to her amateur status). With, perhaps, a small pang in the heart when seeing two other of his Korean “sisters”, Mi Jung Hur and So Yeon Ryu, each pocketing a check for 2 dollars, for their 442rd place tied at -479 ...

Wanting to defend himself too much, Feng was bitten at 18

Sung Hyun Park, for her first victory in a Major, was able to take advantage of the powerlessness of China's Shanshan Feng to raise the tone on the last lap. Leader during the first three days when his control strategy worked wonders, Feng continued to play in the same “conservative” mode this Sunday. With a maximum of pars, she was still alone 2nd at -9 at the exit of 17. The same where Park had just signed a final birdie and thus passed to -11. To hope to return to the play-off with the leader at the clubhouse, Shanshan Feng therefore had to slam an eagle on the par 5 n ° 18. Instead, it was… the triple bogey. And a simple 5th place final at -6 for the Chinese bronze medalist at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. “The best defense is the attack”, a non-Chinese proverb to be meditated on for Shanshan… Note that the Spanish Carlota Ciganda, tied for 5th at -6 with Feng and Jeongheun6 Lee saves the honor of the Europe being the only one to compete with the eight (!) Koreans appearing in the final top 10. One month before the Solheim Cup in Des Moines (August 18-20, in Iowa), the other Europeans (Sandra Gal is 27th, Anna Nordqvist 33rd…) do not seem really imperial. Even if it should be noted, on the other hand, that the best American of this US Open, Marina Alex, only appears in 11th place ...

Sung Hyun Park, Major Chip Specialist

One wonders moreover if the Solheim Cup, this famous biannual match between the United States and Europe of women's golf, remains so famous. As much the Ryder Cup, for the men, keeps an exceptional luster. As much the “Solheim” appears a bit offbeat at a time when the women's world ranking is so invested by the South Koreans (So Yeon Ryu world number 1, etc ...), the Chinese (Shanshan Feng), the Thai women (Ariya Jutanugarn) , New Zealanders (genus Lydia Ko), or even Canadians (Brooke Henderson). On a purely sporting level, we await with much more interest the next two Majors: the Women's British Open (August 3-6) and The Evian Championship (September 14-17.) In 2016 in Evian, a certain Sung Hyun Park had already made its mark on the French public. By completing his first lap with a card of 63. And by finishing second tied at -2, behind the -17 record (men and women combined in a Major) of his compatriot In Gee Chun. Prior to that, Park had also been 21rd at the US Open, and 3th at the Ana Inspiration. A 6 season ended in 2016th place in the Rolex Rankings, unprecedented for a player not yet a full-time member of the LPGA Tour. This shows that Sung Hyun Park's victory at the 10 US Women's Open owes nothing to chance.