No day in the Park, but Inbee leads by 4

No day in the Park, but Inbee leads by 4









Joe Pantorno, The Sports Xchange June 29, 2013 7:00 PMThe SportsXchange



SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. -- After the first round on Thursday, Inbee Park mentioned that the United States Golf Associationwas "generous" in how it they laid out Sebonack Golf Club for day one of the 68th U.S. Women's Open.

When Sebonack was done with the best women's golfers in the world on day three however, only five of the 68 players who made the cut were under par, and only Park broke the par of 72 on Saturday.

While the rain stayed away, the wind swept through making an already difficult course that much harder.

Park, the No. 1 player in the Rolex Women's Golf Rankings from South Korea, had everything going to plan until the back nine. That's when things started to go wrong.

Eight pars and a birdie on the front nine were wiped out by three straight bogeys on Nos. 11-13.

No need to panic though, as Park rebounded with on Nos. 14-15 with one more on 18 to finish at 1-under-par 71 and ended the day at 10-under for the tournament with four-stroke lead over I.K. Kim, also of South Korea, going into the final round.

Park, who has won five times on the LPGA Tour this season, is trying to match Babe Zaharias, who in 1950 became the only player to win the first three women's majors of the year.

While Park cruised the front nine, it looked like the wheels would fall off for Kim. Following rounds of 68-69 to trail Park by only two strokes, she carded three bogeys and a double bogey in the first seven holes.

Kim shot 4-over on her first seven holes, but turned things around with birdies on the eighth, ninth, 14th and 18th to salvage a 73 and remain in second place.

Jodi Ewart Shadoff of England, who had to finish her second round Saturday morning because of the fog suspension the evening before, birdied her final hole to shoot 74.

Shadoff is seven strokes back and will join Park and Kim in the final threesome Sunday.

Shadoff matched Park's par parade with seven in a row to start, but she fell back with four bogeys on the back nine.

So Yeon Ryu of South Korea, the 2011 U.S. Open champion, shot 73 on her 23rd birthday to follow a 69 and is tied for fourth with Angela Stanford, who followed a second-round 68 with a 74.

Lizette Salas, who came into round three five strokes off the lead, fell out of contention with four bogeys and two double bogeys en route to an 82 that dropped her to a tie for 25th.