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Park In-bee to participate in local competition to keep her word

Park In-bee to participate in local competition to keep her word

Posted October. 21, 2015 07:26,   

한국어

With the LPGA reaching the homestretch of the season, the “Golf Queen” Park In-bee (27•KB Financial Group) is facing a fierce challenge from Lydia Ko (18). Park has been supplanted by Lydia as the second in the money ranking, and she is now tied with Lydia Ko in the points for the Player of the Year competition. While Park has remained at the top of global ranking for 19 consecutive weeks, the margin with Lydia is only 0.27 points.

In spite of such sharp tension, Park is going to enter KB Finance Star Championship, a major competition under the KLPGA tour, which will take place in the city of Gwangju in Gyeonggi Province on Friday, instead of the LPGA Taiwan Championship. Having won the championship in Taiwan last year, Park may well have chosen to participate again. But she has given up on the opportunity with no hesitation because KB Finance Championship was hosted by her sponsor, and going for Taiwan would have meant failing to keep the promise she made to her local fans in Korea.

It has been reported that Park was offered to go to Taiwan by a high-ranking official from her sponsor KB Financial Group, but she declined the offer. “Personal records are important, but I don’t think changing the decision that I already made would look very good,” said Park. Indeed, Park In-bee is known to value loyalty and friendship. She has been working with her caddies, trainers, and manager for a long time, treating them like families.

Having won no titles in local competitions so far, Park ranked at the second place in the KB Finance Star Championship for two years running. This time, she is expected to compete for the championship with several players including Jeon In-ji (Hite Jinro), Park Seong-hyeon (Nefs), and Jo Yun-ji (Hiwon Resort). Kim Se-yeong (Mirae Asset) and Kim Hyo-ju (Lotte), who are jockeying for the rookie of the year title in LPGA Tour, will participate in the Taiwanese competition.



kjs0123@donga.com