Park pushes to Grand Slam glory

Inbee Park fired a course record-equalling seven-under-par 65 to win the Ricoh Women’s British Open in Scotland and seal a career Grand Slam on Sunday.

With this extraordinary feat, Park joined an exclusive list of just six players, including Pat Bradley, Juli Inkster, Annika Sorenstam, Louise Suggs, Karrie Webb and Mickey Wright.

Impressively, the 27-year-old South Korean has won six of her seven majors in her last 14 major starts. She won the ANA Inspiration as part of her 2013 run, took the last three Women’s PGA Championships (formerly the LPGA Championship) and reeled in two U.S. Women’s Open titles.

The only Major that eludes Park now is the Evian Championship, which Park won as the Evian Masters a year before it became the official fifth Major on the LPGA in 2013 and was renamed the Evian Championship.

Park began the final round at Trump Turnberry in joint fifth and five strokes behind Jin-Young Ko and and Teresa Lu.

She began to chase down the 54-hole leaders at the Ailsa Course with four birdies in a row from the seventh.

She lagged a stroke behind Ko after she holed out for eagle at the par-five 14^th and took the lead with a birdie at the par-four 16^th.

Park pulled three strokes clear after Ko bogeyed the 13^th and dropped two shots at 16 and set the clubhouse target at 12-under-par 276, but had to wait while the last two groups finished.

Ko failed to force a play-off when she finished with two pars.

“This is something I’ve been dreaming of all my life, all my career, all this year,” Park said after her 16^th career victory.

“This is something I really wanted and to finally reach my goal is a relief and I’m so happy with everything at the moment. I didn’t feel that comfortable coming into this week but to overcome a lot of things and win the championship, is phenomenal.”

Fellow South Korean Ko (71) was second, with compatriot So Yeon Ryu (68) and New Zealand’s Lydia Ko (69) in joint third on eight under.

South Africa’s Lee-Anne Pace closed with an impressive four under 68 to tiefor 24^th on two-over-par 290 with Shanshan Feng from China, Nicole Broch Laren from Denmark and Sun Young Yoo from Korea.

This marks the best finish in the 2015 Majors for the Pearl Valley golfer and her second best finish in the Ricoh British Women’s Open since she tied for 21^st at Royal Birkdale in 2010.

Compatriot Ashleigh Simon finished on 12 over 300. The Wanna Be A Champion player closed with a 75 to share 66^th spot with Ssu-Chia Cheng from Tapei and Canadian Alena Sharp.

FINAL RESULT (top 20)
276 Inbee Park KOR 69 73 69 65
279 Jin Young Ko KOR 68 71 69 71
280 So Yeon Ryu KOR 67 72 73 68; Lydia Ko NZL 66 73 72 69
281 Suzann Pettersen NOR 68 69 72 72
282 Teresa Lu TPE 68 71 69 74
283 Mika Miyazato JPN 68 72 70 73; Anna Nordqvist SWE 69 72 73 69
284 Amy Boulden WAL 71 74 68 71; Minjee Lee AUS 69 72 70 73; Melissa Reid ENG 73 70 69 72
286 Maria Mcbride SWE 79 66 69 72
287 Yani Tseng TPE 72 72 72 71; Luna Sobron ESP 70 77 71 69; Hyo-Joo Kim KOR 65 78 73 71; Cristie Kerr USA 66 77 73 71
288 Stacy Lewis USA 70 75 72 71; Hannah Burke ENG 74 72 71 71; Mi Hyang Lee KOR 70 75 74 69; Lexi Thompson USA 71 75 70 72
290 Lee-Anne Pace RSA 75 73 74 68
300 Ashleigh Simon RSA 72 77 76 75

PHOTO – Inbee Park; photo credit Getty Images
Inbee Park quotation courtesy of Bethan Cutler, Ladies European Tour media manager.