Sung Hyun Park comes to Thornberry Creek riding a wave of confidence. The 25-year-old Korean birdied the final hole to win last week’s Walmart NW Arkansas Championship for her second win of the 2019 season. That birdie also jumped her to No. 1 in the Rolex Women’s World Rankings for the fourth time in her professional career.
“It definitely is difficult winning twice in a row. I have done it in Korea but it has been very difficult and I have not won twice in a row in the States yet,” said Park. “But I do definitely want to win again. I’ll try to stay focused as much as possible this week.”
This is the second consecutive year that Park comes to the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic having won the previous week. In 2018, she won the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship but despite the low scores that peppered Thornberry Creek, she could do no better than +1 and a missed cut. Fast forward a year and Park has a much better finish firmly in her sights.
“To be honest, last year I wasn’t really — I didn’t really know much about the course,” said Park. “I missed a lot of tee shots and there were lots of small mistakes I made. This year I’ll try to, during practice with my caddie, get to know the course better.”