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With a low, pecking ball flight and a hot putter, Inbee Park plodded through blustery conditions on Sunday at Royal Adelaide Golf Club in South Australia, stretching what started as a three-stroke lead to as many as six strokes before missing some greens on the hard-baked, links-style course. Park birdied No. 17, then parred 18 and posted a closing 1-over-par 74 to end the day where she started, three shots clear, and holding her 20th LPGA Tour trophy. Amy Olson finished alone in second after a stellar 3-under 70. It was Olson’s best finish since her runner-up effort at the 2018 Evian Championship.
With discussions about distance and the gap between the professional and amateur game continuing to expand, Park proved the old Bobby Jones adage to be true once again: A good putter is a match for anyone. And an extraordinary putter, which is the only way Park can be described, can produce a Hall of Fame career.
“My putter really hasn’t been working the last couple of years,” Park said after finishing the week at 14-under 278. “I felt like I was hitting the ball just fine, just like (when) I’ve won before, just like when I was hitting it in 2013-14 when I was winning majors. Just the putter was different. So, I was just trying to get that putter back. This week has been a really great putting week.”
The importance of putting should be the takeaway, not just from Park’s win in South Australia but overall. Jordan Spieth won three majors and became No. 1 in the world, not with towering tee shots or 200-yard, pin-seeking 7-irons, but because, for a period of time, he made more 20-footers than anyone. Tiger Woods in his prime is always remembered for the ridiculous shots he executed. But his most impressive stat was the extraordinary number of 5-footers he made and the number of complete rounds he played without a three-putt.
When Park was winning seven majors and becoming the youngest person in history to enter the LPGA Hall of Fame, she wasn’t long or powerful. Her swing looks like a half-speed punch drill you’d see on driving ranges at amateur events. But she makes putts.
“For a good stretch, she was the best putter in the world, man or woman,” said Jerry Foltz, the Golf Channel commentator who watched many of Park’s 20 wins from inside the ropes. “And I think the case could be made that she is among the best putters in the history of the game.”
She found a little of that old magic in Adelaide. Park rolled in one par save after another on Sunday from between 5 and 25 feet to retain the lead. With a two-shot lead on 17, and Olson already in the clubhouse at 11 under, Park hit a long bunker shot to 5 feet and made that putt for birdie to seal the deal.
“Those clutch putts, those par-saving putts have been going in,” she said, reflecting on her week. “That’s why I haven’t been losing a lot of shots when I was in trouble. I think that really came down, maybe a couple of strokes every day, that’s eight (shots total) at the end of the week.”
And that, no matter where you play, makes all the difference.
RESULTS | RACE TO CME GLOBE
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