“I’ve been playing golf for 15 years and I still make mistakes like this.”
On the 11th hole (par-4) during the first round of the Doosan E&C Weave Championship (total prize money: 1.2 billion won) on the Korean Ladies Professional Golf (KLPGA) Tour at Teddy Valley Golf & Resort in Seogwipo City, Jeju Island, South Korea, on Nov. 11. Park Min-ji missed a birdie putt from about 6 meters. She had just over 80 centimeters to go, but as she tried to hole out without marking it, she was unable to get the ball in and recorded a bogey on this hole.
For Park, who was the KLPGA Tour’s money winner in 2021 and 2022 and has won twice this year, it was a mistake that caught her off guard.
After the match, Park blamed herself for the mistake. “I tried to putt without marking it and made a mistake,” he said, adding, “I couldn’t believe I was still making this mistake after playing golf for 15 years.” He reflected on his carelessness.
After starting on the 10th hole, Park made a mistake on the second hole and was unable to change her mood throughout the first half. She bogeyed the 14th (par-3) to finish the round at 2-over par.
Still, the two-time defending champion was not done. He made a long-awaited birdie at the first (par-4) on the back nine to turn things around. He hit his second shot from 156 yards out to six meters and made the birdie putt. He then birdied the second (par-4) from a little further away, eight meters, to make up for the strokes he lost in the first round. Park then dropped another stroke on the seventh (par-3) before making a bogey on the ninth (par-4) when her tee shot went into the woods to finish the first day at even par.
It wasn’t a satisfying scorecard, but she was hopeful for the rest of the round.
“My putter was good, but my shots were a little disappointing,” he said, “The greens are bumpy, so if you don’t keep your shots within five feet of the hole, it’s hard to make birdies. I think I made the most of my chances by finishing at even par on a bad day,” he said, adding that he hopes to move up in the standings in the second round.
Park, who is looking to win her third straight title, has been gaining new experience this year by playing on the Japanese and American tours. In late July, she took a break from the KLPGA Tour to compete in the Evian Championship in France, where she tied for 20th place.
“I feel a lot of things when I go to foreign tournaments,” he said, “especially this year’s tournament, I played better from the first day to the back, so I want to praise myself for playing a different game from the one where I was weak in the back.” “I didn’t play well on the first and second days, but I showed a willingness to bite no matter what,” she said. “It would be a shame to play well and then shoot over par the next day, but this time I played better from the back, so I think it was different from last year,” she said of her LPGA Tour start after a break.
After shooting a 69 on the first day of the Evian Championship, Park faded from contention in the second round with a three-over-par 75. However, she rebounded with an even-par third round and a 6-under 66 in the final round to climb back up the leaderboard.
After completing all of her planned overseas tours this year, Park plans to focus on domestic competition for the remainder of the season.
“I planned this season with a strategy of competing every week until November, taking four to five weeks off to rest and train my body,” Park said. “Sometimes, if I push myself too hard, I don’t perform well. For the rest of the year, I’m going to take it easy and not push myself too hard.”
Park, who missed the Jeju Samdasoo Masters, the first event of the second half of the year, due to her LPGA Tour commitments, finished second on the money list to Lee Ye-won and slipped to third.
“I’m honored to have the record I’ve accumulated as a golfer,” Park said. “My goal is to win three more tournaments while playing on the tour, and to do that, I’ll try to win every tournament, and it’s motivating to have a goal.” 먹튀검증