Inbee Park Avoids Bridesmaid Role at the Ricoh Cup

With all the talk of all the runner-up finishes that Lee Westwood and Suzann Pettersen have been racking up in 2010, the collection of silver Inbee Park's garnered over on the JLPGA this season has been overshadowed. 

Heading into the final round of their season-ending, limited-field, major championship, the Ricoh Cup, Park had a 3-shot lead on fellow rookie, former KLPGA star, and 2010 money-list title holder Sun-Ju Ahn, along with fellow LPGA young gun and 2nd-round leader Mika Miyazato (who was looking for her 2nd JLPGA major title of the season) and JLPGA legend Yuri Fudoh.  Hoping to avoid her 7th 2nd-place finish in her 14th start on tour this season, Park opened today's final round with a birdie, but quickly saw her lead on Ahn dwindle to 1 shot 2 separate times on the front.  With 4 holes to play, she held a slim 2-shot lead, but down the stretch it was Ahn who blinked this time, and just like that, Park had won her 2nd title and 1st major on the JLPGA.  As a result, she rocketed up to 5th on their money list, earning the equivalent of around a million dollars to go nicely with the $825K+ she earned in her 19 LPGA starts. 

Having put the U.S. Women's Open jinx behind her in 2010, Inbee Park is a strong pre-season contender for LPGA Player of the Year in 2011--assuming, of course, that she takes a different approach to scheduling next year.  Early last month, I noticed that Park was skipping the Navistar Classic for a JLPGA event; with her not entering the LPGA Tour Championship this coming week, it's turned out that the Asian swing accounted for her final LPGA events of 2010.  Here's hoping she decides to focus more of her energies on the world's #1 women's tour next season!