Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Just as I suspected, Inbee Park extended her lead during the third round of the U.S. Women’s Open. She entered the third round with a two shot lead and heading into the final round her lead is now four strokes. There just seems to be no stopping Park right now. She only carded a score of one under par in the third round, but she managed to keep herself together when things could have easily gone off track. Surprisingly, her 71 was the low score of the third round.
The closest competitor is I.K. Kim at six under par. After that, Jodi Ewart Shadoff is in third place at three under par. At this point it looks like this tournament is Kim’s to lose. She knows what she has to do in the fourth round to secure her third major championship victory of the season. ”I’m just going to try to do the same thing that I did for the last three days,” Park said. ”Yeah, it will be a big day. But it’s just a round of golf, and I just try not to think about it so much.”
Anyone can say those words, but it seems as if Park really believes them – and her performance supports the fact that she is relatively unfazed by the pressure. Park did leave some shots out on the course, as did the rest of the field, but whenever things had the potential to turn south she managed to make a big putt to right the ship.
I’m not a betting man, but if I was I would bet the house on Park holding on for the win tomorrow.
Carl Conrad is the Senior Golf Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter or add him to your network on Google.
