Fatigue gave way to relief for Inbee Park upon learning that playing 36 holes in one day wasn’t going to be enough to win the LPGA Championship.
Rather than fret about the eight fairways she missed and the three-shot lead she relinquished on the back nine Sunday, Park refocused before the first sudden-death playoff hole against Catriona Matthew.
“Nothing seemed to be working, So I really cleared my head, and just looked at the fairway,” Park said. “And I just smashed it.”
It took three playoff holes, but the top-ranked South Korean star persevered by draining a 20-foot birdie putt on the par-4 18th to outlast Matthew and capture her second major of the season and third overall.
It was a dramatic finish to a long day in which organizers were forced to squeeze in the final two rounds after torrential rain postponed the first round Thursday.
By 8 pm local time on Sunday — about 12 hours after Park teed off to open the third round — a winner was finally decided.
Park closed with a 3-over 75 to match Matthew at 5-under 383.
The 42-year-old Matthew, from Scotland, got to the playoff in an altogether different fashion. She finished with a bogey-free 68 before anxiously waiting to see whether that was enough to give her a shot.
After both Park and Matthew made par on the first two playoff holes, Matthew struggled off the 18th tee on the third. She had difficulty advancing the ball out of the rough just below the green on her third shot and then missed a 50-foot par chip.
Norway’s Suzann Pettersen and American Morgan Pressel finished in a share of third.