Inbee Park wins U.S. Women's Open; 3rd major in a row

Steve DiMeglio | USA TODAY Sports

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — Is it time to start thinking up names?

The Quintuple Slam? The V Slam? The Penta Slam?

Inbee Park of South Korea methodically marched to history Sunday at seaside Sebonack Golf Club with an authoritative four-stroke victory in the 68th U.S. Women's Open, joining Babe Zaharias as the only players in LPGA history to win the first three major championships of the season.

With a final-round 2-over-par-74, the world No. 1 kept runner-up I.K. Kim (74) at bay throughout the cloudy day and now is three-fifths of the way toward an unprecedented sweep of all five majors on the LPGA tour's calendar this season.

In a nod toward her native country, perhaps it should be called the Da-seot (five in Korean) Slam?

"I think I have a heartbeat. I don't know if Inbee has one," said Karrie Webb, a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame who has won seven majors. She tied for 13th. "You can obviously feel for someone like I.K. Kim who would be winning any other U.S. Open on this golf course if it weren't for Inbee.

"Sometimes it's just not good enough when someone is as hot as Inbee is."

Park finished at 8-under 280 to win her second U.S. Women's Open and then was doused in champagne by defending champion Na Yeon Choi and So Yeon Ryu. Kim finished at 4-under 284. Ryu, the 2011 winner of this championship, was the only other player to finish in red numbers at 1 under with a closing 72. Paula Creamer, the 2010 winner, shot 72 and tied for fourth with Angela Stanford (74) and Jodi Ewart Shadoff (76) at 1 over. Asian players have won the last 10 majors.

"I just hope this is not a dream," Park said. "It feels great. It feels great to put my name on this trophy twice. That just means so much. … It was a tough day out there. The golf course was playing tough. I tried to stay calm, and I think I did. I really stayed calm out there, and I just didn't know what I was doing out there. If I knew what I was doing (in terms of history), I think I wouldn't be able to stand."

Adding Sunday's title to the wins in the Kraft Nabisco Championship in April and the Wegmans LPGA Championship in June, Park, 24, joins Zaharias (in 1950 when only three majors were played), Mickey Wright (1961) and Pat Bradley (1986) as the only players in LPGA history to win three majors in a season.

Park will try to do what only Wright (1961-62) and Tiger Woods (2000-01) have done in the modern era — win four consecutive professional major championships when the Ricoh Women's British Open is contested Aug. 1-4 at the home of golf, the Old Course at St. Andrews. Park would become the only player to win four pro majors in a single season.

If Park were to win in Scotland, the Evian Masters in France from Sept. 12-15, a major for the first time this year, would be the final notch in an unparalleled annual span of major championship glory. Last year Park won the Evian Masters when it wasn't designated as a major.

Her 2013 already is as good as some careers. After her win in the 2008 Open, when at 19 she became the youngest to win the national championship, Park went 72 LPGA tournaments without a victory. But her win Sunday was her third in a row, her sixth of the season and her eighth in her last 28 starts, a stretch that also includes six second-place finishes.

Now Park will be asked over and over again about the British Open.

"You can try to put pressure on me, but I will just go out and do my best," said Park, who last year won the money title and the Vare Trophy for the lowest scoring average. "I've just won three majors in a row. I think it's too early to think about the next one.

" … I'm just glad that I can give it a try at St. Andrews. That's going to be a great experience. Whether I do it or not, I'm just a very lucky person."

With her parents watching — her father, Gun Gyu Park, saw his daughter win a major in person for the first time — and her fiancé/swing coach Gi Hyeob Nam in the gallery, Park didn't make worse than a bogey all week despite peril around every dogleg and at the end of every hole with the demanding greens. Park gave credit to all of her family and friends and her mental coach, Sookyung Cho, who preaches patience.

Park, with her nonchalant ways, always makes it look easy — there are no fist pumps, no primal screams of joy. She doesn't scream when things don't go her way, doesn't shout at the ball. She just plays each shot and then moves to the next. She has the ideal blueprint for the U.S. Women's Open and most any tournament — hits fairways, hits greens, makes putts and controls her emotions.

Park, who was the only player among 68 to break par in the third round, took a 4-shot lead into the final 18 holes. Kim knocked the deficit to three with a birdie at the second but gave it back at the fourth. Both made bogeys on consecutive holes starting at the sixth before a birdie by Park on the ninth stretch her lead to five. It got to six with another birdie on the 10th. Kim never got closer than four the rest of the way on the 6,658-yard layout that featured baffling, contoured greens.

"She doesn't want to think about the British Open and things like that. I'm not sure how much she has the pressure, but I think she's managing it really well. Not many people can do that, you know?" Kim said. "She's happy with her life, not just golf, and she has her family together and friends and all that.

"So I think that's what works for her."

Seems everything else is, too.