HSBC WWC 2021 - Round One: Formidable Inbee Park leads, credits her caddy

LPGA 2021 - HSBC Women’s World Championship - Sentosa GC, Singapore

Round One - Inbee Park leading by one

At the end of the first round of the 2021 HSBC WWC Inbee Park is leading by one stroke with 8-under-par 64. Fellow South Korean Hee Young Park is one stroke back on 7-under, while five are together on 5-under, tied third.

Su Oh on 4-under is highest of the Australians on the board, followed by Katherine Kirk and Minjee Lee with Kiwi Lydia Ko on 3-under and Hannah Green 1-under.

Inbee Park fired a bogey-free round with eight birdies.

32 year old Inbee Park is a formidable fellow competitor. To describe her achievements as merely 'impressive' is something of an understatement. Her most recent win was in March, when she took out the Kia Classic at Aviara with a whopping five stroke victory. Presently No. 2 in the Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings, she has stepped up to the No. 1 spot four times. She has won seven major championships (four different majors) and took the US Women's Open in three consecutive years. She has an Olympic gold medal. And, she has won the WWC in Singapore twice already, in 2015 and 2017.

Yet despite her successes she does not take her present tournament lead for granted and nor does she claim it as solely her own. Rather, her strongest words are of thanks for her caddy, who is also her husband.

From the LPGA Tournament News:

“I think I'm going to give him ten and probably ten for the rest of the week because I'm really thankful that he's doing this for me and in this heat. It's very tough conditions. I'm just really thankful that he's carrying the bag.

"I don't need an exact number. I don't need anything. I just need him next to me, that's all, just carrying the bag,” said Park, who leads the 69-player field at -8. “He caddied for me in the AIG Women's Open, and I mean it was probably about ten degrees -- probably like, yeah, ten degrees Celsius. It's probably 20 degrees difference. So he's going to have to work hard this week.”

For more coverage of the first round, see Reuters.com

Sentosa Golf Club

2021 LPGA Women's World Championship Leaderboard