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Park Inbee poised to become 1st Korean LPGA Triple Crown winner

August 20, 2015

Canadian Pacific Women’s Open to tee off Thursday

Inbee Park poses with the trophy after winning the Women's British Open on Sunday at the Turnberry course in Turnberry, Scotland. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)

Inbee Park poses with the trophy after winning the Women’s British Open on Sunday at the Turnberry course in Turnberry, Scotland. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)

By Brian Han

South Korean golfers broke their own record for most LPGA Tour wins in a season with 12 through only 20 events on the season (15 if you extend the qualifications to South Korean-born players thanks to Lydia Ko and Minjee Lee).

But there’s one player who is rising beyond her peers and her performance might earn her all three of the most coveted end of season LPGA Tour awards.

At the moment, Park Inbee is poised to grab the triple crown of golf as the front runner for Player of the Year, the Vare Trophy (lowest scoring average on the year) and highest career earnings for the 2015 season. It would make her the first ever in her country’s history.

In fact, before 2014 when American Stacy Lewis accomplished the feat, it hadn’t been done in 21 years.

Park’s winnings are up to $2.2 million. That’s almost $1 million more than Lydia Ko who is currently in second. To put things into perspective, the next highest total is held by Stacy Lewis who is only separated by $120,000 from Ko.

As for her scoring average of 69.391, she leads the tour over both Lydia Ko (69.723) and Stacy Lewis (69.779) as well.

Lastly, she holds another commanding lead for the Rolex Player of the Year rankings over Lydia Ko and fellow countrywoman Sei Young Kim — 235 to 134 to 111.

Park is no stranger to any of these awards. She’s won each of them separately and some on multiple occasions, but to win all three would represent her overall dominance during a season with so many up-and-coming younger players including phenoms like Hyo Joo Kim, Lexi Thompson and Sei Young Kim.

The 27-year-old has four wins on the year and two of those are major championships, two more than any other player. She recently completed the career grand slam in July after winning the Women’s British Open in Turnberry, Scotland. With one more major at the Evian Championship, Park will look to complete the career “super slam” as the LPGA has officially dubbed it, which no player has yet to accomplish.