It was a South Korean sweep, 1,2 3 at the CP Canadian Women's Open on a beleaguered London Hunt Club course, softened by rain and left defenseless in calm conditions..
So Yeon Ryu set the course record in her first round, held a four-stroke advantage going into Sunday and led by six going into the back nine. A bogey on No. 15 and Na Yeon Choi’s birdie shrunk the lead to one.
Then she hit a great approach, the key shot of her round, resulting in a birdie on the 16th hole, restoring her lead to two as she wrapped up her first victory in more than two years by capturing the US$2.25-million Canadian Pacific Women’s Open with a 23-under 265.
With that score she beat the tournament record of 18 under but couldn’t break Annika Sorenstam’s LPGA Tour record of 27 under.
Inbee Park, like Ryu and Choi part of South Korea’s International Crown team, finished third at 18 under after winning last week’s LPGA Championship. Spain’s Azahara Munoz, who tied Ryu’s course record Saturday, was fourth at 17 under.
Brooke Henderson of Smith Falls, Ont., shot a 74 Sunday to finish as the low Canadian and low amateur at 2-under 286, two strokes better than Calgary’s Jennifer Ha. Jennifer Kirby of Paris, Ont., shot a 76 to drop to 3 over, and Sue Kim of Langley, B.C., shot a 78 to drop to 7 over.
Brook said after receiving her medals that she looked forward to winning her national championship one day, and I know she has the ability. However if we ever needed reminding, the wave after wave after wave of little Asian girls who dominate the pro game is not going away, in fact the girls on the LPGA Tour are just the tip of the iceberg.
A recent look at the women's NCAA championships displayed an astonishingly high percentage of young women of Asian descent, some of them now American, Canadian, Australian etc., citizens. Their love of this game, and their devotion to practicing it has been for me the number one story in women's golf for year's now.
It also make Brook's progression to the final of the US Amateur championship even more remarkable.
So for another week, this time in Canada it is South Korea 1, 2 and 3, a tribute to Ryu, Park and Choi....
Is that good or bad for the LPGA Tour ? That's a story for another post !
Final leaderboard http://www.lpgascoring.com/public/Leaderboard.aspx
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