Women's PGA Championship 2015: Sunday Leaderboard Scores and LPGA Highlights
You can change the course. You can change the competitors. You can change the name of the event.
You can't stop Inbee Park.
Park shot a five-under 68 Sunday, pulling away from the field for a five-stroke victory at the 2015 Women's PGA Championship. It's the third straight triumph at the year's second major for Park, who has now won the event on three different courses.
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| 1 | Inbee Park | -19 |
| 2 | Sei Young Kim | -14 |
| 3 | Lexi Thompson | -12 |
| 4 | Brittany Lincicome | -11 |
| T5 | Morgan Pressel | -10 |
| T5 | Brooke Mackenzie Henderson | -10 |
| T7 | Karrie Webb | -9 |
| T7 | Suzann Pettersen | -9 |
| T9 | Gerina Piller | -8 |
| T9 | Anna Nordqvist | -8 |
| T9 | Hyo Joo Kim | -8 |
| T9 | Anna Nordqvist | -8 |
Annika Sorenstam is the only other golfer to take the Women's PGA Championship three straight times. Mickey Wright holds the record with four victories overall.
Park entered the day with a two-stroke lead, slowly extending herself out of reach with a near-flawless round. She had five birdies without an over-par hole, hitting all but two of her fairways and 15 of 18 greens in regulation. Overall, Park went the final three days without carding a bogey and matched the tournament's scoring record at 19 under.
"It feels like the first time is always hard, always hard to do and it puts extra pressure on yourself," Park told the Associated Press (via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel). "But when you're trying to do the second, third time in a row, it just feels like you've done your homework already. So you feel a little bit more relaxed and you kind of know how it feels like and how it's going to play like."
Park has now won six major championships, five of which have come in the last three years. The win will allow her to regain the No. 1 overall ranking from Lydia Ko, who was cut after going two over in the first two rounds.
Taking second place was Sei Young Kim, who came just shy of winning her first career major. Kim shot a two-under 71, battling through a wild front nine before largely settling down on the back. The 22-year-old, who won her first two events on the PGA Tour this year, parred only one hole on the front as she oscillated between beautiful birdies and ugly over-par scores.
Kim had a four-hole run of birdies, a back-to-back bogey run and a double all mashed into her front nine as she made the turn at one under. After birdieing No. 10 and No. 12, Kim dropped her final shot of the day on the 13th before parring out to finish at two under. The ascending young star now has top-five finishes in the year's first two majors.
Park will likely walk away from Sunday feeling good after finally taking a head-to-head battle against Kim. The youngster got the better of Park when they went to a playoff at the Lotte Championship.
"I have to say, my history with her is not great," Park told Bill Fields of espnW.com. "She probably feels like, 'I win when I play with Inbee.' It's always tough to see your opponent getting lucky, but it seems she holes out a lot, so maybe it was just the usual."
Rounding out the top five were Lexi Thompson (-12), Brittany Lincicome (-11), Morgan Pressel (-10) and Brooke Mackenzie Henderson (-10). Thompson was tied with Sandra Gal for the best round of the day at seven under. She threatened to push herself into contention with eight birdies in her first 13 holes but tapered off a bit down the stretch.
Among the other notables, Karrie Webb finished a strong weekend in a tie for seventh place at nine under. Her one-under 72 Sunday was a bit of a disappointment, but the 40-year-old continues her recent strong play at majors. Webb has now finished in the top 10 at two of her last three major events.
Stacy Lewis was equally up-and-down for a one-under 72. It was her fourth straight round in the 70s, as she finished in a tie for 13th at six under. The American has now finished outside the top 10 in three of her last four majors after a streak of five straight top-six outings. Next month's U.S. Women's Open may be another difficult trek, as Lewis has finished outside the top 40 more times than she's been a top-10 player.
Park, meanwhile, will attempt to win her second U.S. Open in the last three years. She won three consecutive majors in 2013, so we know it's possible for her to keep bringing it. After the dominance she displayed all weekend, smart money may be on her doing it again.
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