By Tod Leonard
CARLSBAD, Calif.—With 21 wins on the LPGA Tour, the latest coming on Sunday in the Kia Classic, Inbee Park can play in just about any women’s golf tournament in the world if she wants to. Except for one.

Even as the reigning gold medalist from the 2016 Olympics in Brazil, Park couldn’t count on being in Japan, either in 2020, when the Games were originally scheduled, or when they were postponed until this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

In fact, when COVID-19 hit last March and would eventually wipe out a number of events on the LPGA schedule in 2020, Park found herself outside of the bubble in qualifying for the Olympics, and she was running out of time to catch up. There were four South Korean compatriots ahead of Park in the Rolex World Rankings, and the max from any one country is four.

Some golfers, like Dustin Johnson, find the Olympics too much of a hassle or a scheduling burden. Not Park, who’s never experienced anything like standing on the podium and hearing her national anthem.

“If there was no Olympics, I don’t know,” Park said of whether she might still be competing. “I’m asking the same question.”

Always surrounded by talk of retirement because of the extensive time she takes off and a trophy case that seems to hardly need any more hardware, Park saw a repeat appearance in the Olympics as her biggest challenge. Great thing for her, bad for her competitive peers.

Just before COVID-19 shut down the world, Park captured the Australian Women’s Open in February 2020, and after she returned to the LPGA in October, Park posted six top-10s, including a pair of runners-up.

That run vaulted her to fourth in the World Rankings, and her standing will only grew stronger with her victory Sunday in the Kia Classic at Aviara Golf Club. Competing for the first time since taking three months off, Park went wire-to-wire for the first time in her career, She closed with a two-under-par 70 to record a 14-under and win by five shots over Lexi Thompson (69) and Amy Olson (68).

Donald Miralle
Lexi Thompson tees off the first hole during the final round of the Kia Classic.

Motivation, Park said, “could be anything. It could be just like this week. The Kia Classic, I came close to winning, but I didn’t win. So I want to win this week.”

Three times Park had finished second in the Kia, including twice at Aviara, where the event has been played since 2013. She never gave this one a real chance to slip away, starting on Thursday with a 66 score in cool, wet and windy conditions, to Sunday, where she forged a seven-shot lead at one point. Park suffered only two bogeys in the tournament’s first 65 holes, and though she wobbled slightly with two bogeys on the back nine on Sunday, she answered that by draining a 40-foot eagle putt after driving the green on the par-4 16th.

Park, of course, looked like her pulse never quickened.

“Everybody asks me like, ‘Do you still get nervous?’ Yes, of course,” Park said with a smile. “ ‘You look so comfortable. Are you comfortable?’ I’m like, no!”

Olson, the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open runner-up who was playing in her second event of the season, had the best round among the pursuers with a 68 on Sunday, but joked that she never considered that Park would falter.

“Yeah, I did not really think much about Inbee,” Olson said. “She was kind of doing her own thing and playing her own golf course. She obviously played phenomenal this week.”

The 32-year-old Park continues to make her mark in the LPGA record books. With her 21st win, she passed Laura Davies and current player Cristie Kerr on the all-time victory list, moving into a tie with the late Marilyn Smith, one of the original founders of the LPGA. By earning $270,000, the LPGA Hall of Famer became only the fourth player on the tour to surpass $17 million in career earnings.

One thing that Park says does not motivate her: catching her idol Se Ri Pak’s LPGA total of 25 wins, the most by a South Korean.

“To beat someone’s record. I’m never playing golf for that reason,” Park said.

Chasing her own achievements in motivation enough.

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When Annika Sorenstam made 13 birdies in shooting the only 59 in the history of the LPGA Tour in 2001, she set an impossibly high bar. Since then, only five 60s have been recorded and no one has even approached the birdie count, with the best being 11 in a single outing.

It was another Swede who was chasing records on Saturday in the Kia Classic in Carlsbad, Calif. Madelene Sagstrom, a 28-year-old who notched her first LPGA win last year, got off to a horrendous start in the third round at Aviara Golf Club by hitting a drop-kick hook off the first tee. She was just happy to find her ball and make double bogey.

The rest of the round was something out of a dream. Sagstrom birdied six of the next seven holes, including making five straight birdies to end the back nine. She made four more birdies on the back while suffering one bogey, and the result was 11 birdies in a round of 8-under 64 that vaulted her from 50th when the day began to inside the top 5.

It was the 15th time in LPGA history that a player recorded 11 birdies or more in a round (Julie Inkster is the only one to do it twice), and Sagstrom is the first to do it since Sei Young Kim shot 11-under 61 in the 2019 Cambia Portland Classic.

Sagstrom’s reaction to the feat? “Wow.”

“Just after the first hole, I hit a really good shot,” she said. “I hit it almost dead on 2, and I made a putt on 3. Kind of momentum started—I got it back really quickly. So I just knew if I keep getting out of my own way, get out of my own head, and just give my swing the chance to perform, I’m going to have a good day.”

Sagstrom and the rest of the field got some big help in scoring on a course that was set up about 300 yards shorter than in the first two rounds, which were cool and windy. Saturday greeted the players with clear skies and warm temperatures, along with some inviting tees.

Sagstrom drove the green on the par-4 ninth to make birdie, and she came up just short of the green on the par-4 16th, notching another easy 3.

“I just hit some really, really good iron shots that were quite easy, and then I made a few putts,” Sagstrom said. “No bombs, nothing crazy. It was really steady play and really good iron play.”

In the third round, the field was chasing 20-time LPGA winner Inbee Park, the 36-hole leader who extended her advantage to five shots by shooting a second straight 69. Park stands at 12 under, with M.J. Hur (67), Minjee Lee (68) and Mel Reid (71) at seven under.

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By Tod Leonard
Michelle Wie West hasn’t competed in an LPGA Tour event in nearly two years, but the woman who literally grew up before our eyes still commands our fascination. In August 2019, she married Jonnie West, the son of L.A. Lakers legend Jerry West, in a lavish Beverly Hills ceremony. In June 2020, the couple welcomed their first child. In November, she worked the Masters for CBS. Last month, Wie West publicly fired back at Rudy Giuliani after he made objectifying remarks about her.

It’s all compelling stuff, but it’s not picking up a club and striking a ball in the heat of competition.

Is that about to change?

On Monday, Kia Classic tournament director Lindsay Allen confirmed that Wie West is on the entry list for the event, which is scheduled for March 25-28 at Aviara Golf Club in Carlsbad, Calif. It appears the Kia might serve as a tune-up for Wie West to play in the first major of the year, the ANA Inspiration in Rancho Mirage, Calif., which is scheduled for the week after the Kia.

The ANA field officially closes on Wednesday. The Kia field closed on Friday.

“We’re excited Michelle is currently in the field for the 2021 Kia Classic. We’re looking forward to welcoming her back next week to the LPGA Tour,” Allen said via email.

The former U.S. Women’s Open champion, however, has yet to announce whether she’s playing in either event.

Wie West, 31, last played on the LPGA in June 2019 at the KMPG Women’s PGA Championship and currently ranks 534th in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings. Struggling with a painful wrist injury, she shot 84-82 at Hazeltine National in the Women’s PGA. Due to injuries, Wie West played in only five events in 2019, making the cut just once. She played a full schedule in 2018, and that March notched the latest of her five career victories at the HSBC Women’s World Championship. That win ended a nearly four-year victory drought following her greatest triumph in the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst, after which she reached a career best at World No. 6.

Wie West has never ruled out competing again, saying that she would like her daughter, Makenna, to one day see her play on the LPGA. She has played the Kia Classic nine times, with a best finish of T-6 when it was played at La Costa in 2010. In six appearances at Aviara from 2013-18, her best finish is T-16 in 2014. She tied for 22nd in 2018.

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By Keely Levins
Citing a need to protect the players and those who follow the tour during the COVID-19 outbreak, LPGA Tour Commissioner Mike Whan released a statement early Friday UAE time announcing the postponement of the next three events, including the year’s first major championship.

Beginning next week, the three events—Volvik Founders Cup, Kia Classic and ANA Inspiration—were set to be played in consecutive weeks in Phoenix, Carlsbad, Calif., and Rancho Mirage, Calif. Rather than cancel the tournaments, Whan said the plan is to reschedule all three for later in 2020.

“This is a difficult situation and as we navigate these uncertain times, we appreciate the support of all those involved with the LPGA,” Whan said in a statement. “I am fully committed to rescheduling these important events on our 2020 schedule, especially our first major, the ANA Inspiration. Our thoughts are with all of those around the world affected by this virus. And on a personal level, it pains me to see the impact of this health crisis on our athletes, our sponsors and our fans. That said, I know keeping our LPGA family safe, and all those who follow us safe, has to be my top priority.”

The announcement comes after the LPGA previously cancelled three events in Asia due to the spread of the coronavirus. The Women’s Australian Open was the last LPGA event contested. It ended on Feb. 16, meaning the tour will be dark for at least seven weeks running through the scheduled end of the ANA in the first week of April.

Additionally, the Symetra Tour’s two upcoming events in California also have been postponed.

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By Brian Wacker
The injury woes continue for Michelle Wie.

After withdrawing from last month’s HSBC Women’s World Championship because of a wrist injury 14 holes into the opening round, Wie has pushed back her return to the course, pulling out of this week’s Kia Classic on Monday night, according to LPGA.com.

The latest setback comes a week before the first major of the year, the ANA Inspiration.

The 29-year-old Wie had just returned to action in February following surgery last October to repair a small fracture, bone spurs and a pinched nerve in her right wrist and hand, tying for 23rd at the Honda LPGA in Thailand. A week later, however, she cited returning pain and pulled out of her title defense at the HSBC in Singapore, where she had made five bogeys and two doubles through her first nine holes before withdrawing.

Wie later said on Instagram that an MRI showed her “surgery site was healing great,” but that she was still dealing with nerve entrapment due to tendon inflammation.

It is unclear whether Wie will be able to play next week at Mission Hills.

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