Minnesota Golfer - Spring 2019 - 21

But no one would deny Sung
BROOKE HENDERSON
Hyun Park's chances of defending
her PGA title. The South Korean's
amazing full-season LPGA debut
in 2017 included play in 23 tournaments
and 23 cuts made. She
had 11 top-10 finishes and two
wins, including the 2017 Women's
Open. She finished No. 1 on the
money list, copped the Rookie of
the Year title and shared Player
of the Year honors with So Yeon
Ryu. In November 2017, she was
ranked the No. 1 female golfer in
the world.
Last year, Park missed a few cuts,
finished a mere third in the overall
money list and ceded the No. 1
ranking to Jutanugarn. But she won three times, including the
KPMG Women's PGA Championship at Kemper Lakes Golf
Club in Illinois.
Haigh, who, naturally, was on hand for the three-way playoff
between Park, Ryu and Nasa Hataoka, says, " Park is a wonderful
player with a beautiful golf swing. She works hard on her game
and played beautifully to win last year's event. But I think anyone
who has been to a tournament in recent years has seen how
the ability and quality of play is unbelievably good and strong. "
As the third South Korean to win the tournament, Park
has become a hero back in her home country, along with her
illustrious predecessors, Se Ri Pak and Inbee Park, both threetime
winners and Hall of Famers. Inbee Park won three consecutive
years, 2013-2015 (plus the 2008 U.S. Women's Open
at Interlachen), and is most certainly hoping to match Mickey
Wright as the only four-time winner of the title.
But the North Americans have hopes, too. Brooke Henderson,
the winner in 2016 and runner-up in 2017, sounds primed
and ready to go. Though from Ontario, she has yet to play in
Minnesota.
" I'm always trying to prepare and peak for the majors, "
Henderson says. " Winning the PGA Championship in 2016 was
really meaningful for me. I like the event a lot and hope this year
will be another good one for me. "
Lexi Thompson, the 2014 ANA Inspiration major winner
(then the Kraft Nabisco Championship), says, " There's different
prep work once you get to the golf course for a major, particularly
a course you're not playing at from year to year. There's a
lot more practice around the greens and into the greens. A lot of
the girls will go ahead of time and play the course to get used to
it, but sometimes when you go early it's not in the same condition
it will be in at tournament time. "
Ariya Jutanugarn finished in a tie for 40th in last year's championship,
one stroke ahead of another Hall of Famer, Karrie
Webb, who hasn't missed the event since 1996. Though she's
mngolf.org
NASA HATAOKA
INBEE PARK
trimmed her schedule back
to eight to 10 tournaments
a year, the seven-time major
winner (including the 2001
PGA Championship) won't
miss this one, either.
" We've always had a great
turnout in Minnesota, " Webb
says. " I played in the U.S.
Women's Open in Minnesota [at Interlachen] in 2008, and I've
watched the men play at Hazeltine. So I'm looking forward to it. "
Local Logistics
Championship director Renee DeLosh says, " Minnesotans are
historically crazy for golf. " In early February, she had already
compiled a waiting list of volunteers for the event. There are a
lot of moving parts involved with putting such a tournament
on-sales and marketing, ticketing, hospitality sales, operations
with all the PGA vendors, tenting, security, anticipating spectator
needs, parking and traffic flow, building out the site plan.
But DeLosh, who by February had been on site for a little over
a year, is unfazed.
" It's a lot to coordinate, but it's what we do, " DeLosh says.
" The goal each year is to grow the spectator numbers, and
because Minnesota is so supportive of the tournaments that
have come through town, we hope to keep that trend going. "
Still, there's no expectation that the numbers will match the
Ryder Cup hysteria. The good news there, says DeLosh, is that
" weather permitting, we'll have all the parking right on site, on
the land surrounding the golf course. "
Regardless, DeLosh expects a great tournament and is pleased
to see a major women's golf tournament return to Hazeltine.
" We're just super excited to have the best women golfers
come through Minnesota, " DeLosh says. " It's been a long time
since we've had them here. Hazeltine is a great host site club,
and I think it's going to be a fantastic week. " MG
Spring 2019 MINNESOTAGOLFER
21
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Minnesota Golfer - Spring 2019

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