The Bank of Hope Founders Cup gave us all a lot of be excited about. South Korea’s
Inbee Park made a triumphant return to the winner’s circle while England’s own Dame Laura Davies narrowly missed out on being the oldest winner on the LPGA Tour.
Park proved she is back and ready to pick up right where she left off, securing her 19th LPGA Tour title on Sunday in Arizona. In just her second event since August 2017, the 29-year-old made it look easy on Sunday as she cruised through a bogey-free final round. Carding a 5-under 67 to finish with a 19-under 269 total, five-shots clear of the second place finishers.
“I didn’t expect to win very early [in the season], I mean obviously, after a long break,” Park told reporters afterwards. “In Singapore,” she added, “I felt like my ball striking was quite good and I just needed to work on the putter a little bit. It has worked pretty good this week.”
Park’s putter worked more than “pretty good” throughout the weekend. Starting Sunday off with an opening birdie followed by ten pars, Park sealed her fate with an incredible four consecutive birdies on the back nine. Making us all very thankful that Park didn’t decide to retire!
While Park was the winner on Sunday it was 54-year-old Davies who really stole the headlines. With the Lynx player in contention throughout the weekend, Davies’ insane 63 on Saturday put her at the forefront of everyone’s list to watch during the final round. In the end the Englishwoman had to settle for a share of second but her performance at the Founders more than showed she isn’t willing to slow down just yet!
“At 54 I still feel like I can hit the ball as well as most of the really good players out here,” she said. “I’m just delighted the way the week has turned out.” Adding, “This is incredible, really. I was four-over after six holes and now I’ve finished tied second.”
And what excited Davies most about her best finish since 2007?
“Now people might stop asking me when I’m going to retire – that’s the best thing about it.”
Celebrating her 32nd year playing on the LPGA Tour, Davies has already been inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame but is still two points shy of her LPGA Hall of Fame induction. A major win is two points while a regular title is one. So could Davies still be up for a couple more wins?
She says, “You never know.”
Check out Davies Lynx clubs below:
Driver:
Lynx Parallax Driver
Fairway Woods:
Lynx Black Cat #3 Fairway
Hybrid:
Lynx Parallax Hybrid
Irons: Lynx Tour Blade 2 Iron; Lynx Parallax Forged Irons
Wedges: Lynx Tour Wedges
