Date: June 10, 2013
Author: Australian Ladies Professional Golf
Rolex Rankings No. 1 Inbee Park held off a surging Catriona Matthew, sinking an 18-foot birdie putt on the third hole of a sudden-death playoff at the Wegmans LPGA Championship to capture her seventh-career victory and third major championship. Matthew shot a final round 4 under (68) to force a playoff with Park, who finished with a 3 over (75) including 3 bogeys in her last six holes. Park has won the first two majors of the 2013 season, having also captured the Kraft Nabisco Championship back in April. I didn&apost know that I was going to be able to do it today, said Park. I was hitting the ball everywhere today on the final round. It just made my day so much tougher. But just putting my name on the Wegmans LPGA championship trophy just means so much to me. And this is my third win in a major championship. So that means a lot. And getting a lot closer to my goals set for my golf career. It was a marathon of a day on Sunday at Locust Hill Country Club in Pittsford, NY. The final 36 holes of the major championship had to be played on the final day of the event after rain postponed the start of the event a day. Australian Sarah Jane Smith started the 3rd round of the championship 3 strokes behind but struggled in her final 36 holes day, shooting 4 over (76) in the third round and 9 over (81) in the final round. Smith finished in tied 53rd position. The leading Australian is Karrie Webb with rounds of 3 over (75) and 2 under (70) to finish at tied 33rd position. LPGA rookie and Victorian Bre Elliott finished at tied 58th position with final rounds of 5 over (77) and 1 over (73). World no.1 amateur Lydia Ko continued to impress to finish at 1 over total, tied 17th position. She had rounds of 77, 70, 73 and 69.