Park Sung-hyun begins the year at the LPGA Founders Cup

Park Sung-hyun begins the year at the LPGA Founders Cup. March. 16, 2016 07:17. by 김종석기자 kjs0123@donga.com. After a long winter vacation, Korean female golfer Park Sung-hyun will finally start her first competition this year at the U.S. LPGA Tour. She will return to the field and compete at the Founders Cup due open at Phoenix Wildfire Golf Club in Arizona.

Having ranked second in prize by grabbing three wins at the Korean LPGA in the 2015 season, Park again won the 2016 KLPGA Tour of Hyundai Motor China Women's Open in December last year. After Jeon In-ji left KLPGA Tour, Park is betting to become the best player at KLPGA Tour. Early this year, Park trained at Temecula, California. While other KLPGA Tour top ranking players started regular competition last week, Park continued to focus on strengthening competence.

Starting as an invited player at the Founders Cup, Park will be playing successively at the KIA Classic and ANA Inspiration competitions. "I'm excited as if it's my first ever competition. I'm concerned because I was too good in previous games. Rather than trying to win, I want to display my utmost ability so my LPGA experience could be a valuable one," she said. At the LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championships in Incheon last year, Park ranked joint second after Lexi Thompson as she was behind Thompson by one stroke. Based on such performance, experts say Park has a chance of winning.

Saying she focused on upping physical strength and short games, Park added, "I still feel I lack something. I will try to fill the gap through games this year." Doing four sets of 50 push-ups every day to lift upper body strength, Park received the gold putter from Ping Golf, her golf supplier, who sent it to her from the U.S. to celebrate her three wins last year.

Defending champion Kim Hyo-joo, Jang Ha-na who grabbed two wins in five competitions in last season, and Kim Se-young are also among the potential winners for the upcoming Founders Cup competition. World No.1 Lydia Ko and No. 2 Park In-bee will also join the competition.