Inbee Park eyeing 'perfect' Evian Championship challenge

09 September 2015 02:32

South Korea's Inbee Park can end any lingering debate in the best way possible with victory in the Evian Championship this week.

Park won her seventh major title in the Ricoh Women's British Open last month, completing the full set of 'traditional' major championships thanks to a brilliant closing 65 at Turnberry.

That was regarded in some quarters as completing the career grand slam, although the Evian Championship only became the fifth major in 2013, a year after Park won what was then called the Evian Masters.

" I feel like I'm doing something really never anybody has done before," the world number one, who has won six of the 14 majors she has contested since 2013, told a pre-tournament press conference.

"It feels pretty special to actually have a crack at it, and I will for the rest of my life if I come to Evian. It's good that I have an opportunity, but the main goal this year was just to win the British Open, which I did, and I'm happy to play in Evian.

"I don't want to put too much pressure on myself, but if I can do something special this week, that'll be definitely very memorable. This is already a memorable place to me, so if I can do something like that again, it'll be great, perfect."

Seven of Park's 16 LPGA Tour titles have come in major championships, but the 27-year-old added: " I can't explain why I am good at major tournaments really, because if I look at the number of wins, it's a really big percentage compared to other players.

"I don't know, just maybe I am just comfortable when I play the major championships.

"I feel like I have 100 per cent concentration when I play the major championships. It really feels like a real golf tournament. I think just the success that I've had in the past, that gives me a lot of confidence going into the major championships."

Park's fellow Korean H yo-Joo Kim will look to become the first player to win back-to-back Evian titles in the tournament's history, with American and European players also using the event as their final competitive preparation for next week's Solheim Cup in Germany.

Park has been drawn alongside New Zealand's Lydia Ko and American Stacy Lewis for the first two rounds, the players ranked immediately behind her in the world rankings.

Source: PA