Inbee Park wins 17th LPGA title - fifth this 

season despite charge 

by Ciganda


FROM THE LPGA WEBSITE
Inbee Park, pictured, saved her best round of the year - 8-under-par 64 - for Sunday at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in Mexico to secure her 17th LPGA title and fifth this season. 
Park needed the splendid Sunday, too, with Carlota Ciganda hard charging up from behind with a career-low 9-under-par 63, the best round of the tournament. 
But when Ciganda got to six-under for the day through seven holes to tie Park, the world No. 2 responded with a beautiful five birdie, zero bogeys 5-under-par 31 on the back to edge Ciganda out by three at 18-under-par 270 for the tournament. First prize was $200,000.
“It was fun. It was birdies after birdies, so it was fun. Carlota really got me going,” Park said. “It was three good rounds but obviously the last round is the one that counts and the last three days I felt like I made some mistakes but today I think I got rid of all of that. I played really well.”
For Park, the win is not only a victory at a tournament that had previously eluded her with three top-fours in the three years prior. It also made the season finale next week - the CME Group Tour Championship - a lot more interesting as Park’s 18-under-par 270 has pushed her ahead of Lydia Ko in the Vare Trophy standings by just 0.0161 shots per round.
 Park’s victory also puts the Rolex Player of the Year trophy firmly up for grabs next week as she has pulled within just three points of Ko. Park will need a minimum of an eight-place finish to tie Ko in the player of the year standings if Ko doesn’t post a top-10 herself.
“I knew that I had to do something big this week to have any chance coming into the Tour Championship,” Park said. “It’s great. It brings a lot of excitement to have something in your hand finishing off the season. I’ll definitely try to play my best next week, I’ll give it all I got, and just try to play good golf like I did this week.”
Ciganda didn’t leave with the trophy but she did leave with the best round of her career and the knowledge that she can perform in the hunt for victory in the final group.  
Despite trailing by four shots entering the day, Ciganda birdied the first, eagled the second and was quickly within two shots of Park. Ciganda didn’t relent either with birdies on four, five and seven to tie Park for the lead on the seventh. Despite birdies from Park on six of her final 11 holes, Ciganda still had a shot down the stretch. She pulled within one shot with a birdie on the 14th but made a disappointing bogey on the 16th hole and watched as Park birdied her final two holes for good measure.
“If they told me at the beginning, I’d get a 63, I’d played some really good golf,” Ciganda said. “I started really well with birdie, eagle, so I had a great time. Inbee played unbelievable and she has lots of experience and she knows how to win. Just congratulate her on such a great win.”
This was a long time coming for Park here in Mexico in her estimation. She had been close in years past - runner-up in 2012, fourth in 2013, third in 2014 - but hadn’t been able to close the deal until Sunday.
FINAL TOTALS AND PRIZEMONEY
 Par 288 (4x72)

1	Inbee Park	68	71	67	64	.		270	$200,000
2	Carlota Ciganda	72	69	69	63			273	$103,449
3	Sei-Young Kim	73	66	70	66			275	$75,045
4	So Yeon Ryu	71	70	69	67			277	$58,053
5	Sakura Yokomine	72	70	69	68			279	$46,726
T6	Caroline Masson	73	71	70	66			280	$35,115
T6	Mariajo Uribe	71	73	71	65			280	$35,115
T8	Suzann Pettersen	69	71	73	69			282	$24,354
T8	Jaye Marie Green	71	70	72	69			282	$24,354
T8	Christina Kim	73	66	73	70			282	$24,354
T8	Cristie Kerr	74	69	69	70			282	$24,354
T12	Minjee Lee	69	69	75	70			283	$18,615
T12	Jennifer Song	72	73	69	69			283	$18,615
T12	Pernilla Lindberg	71	70	71	71			283	$18,615
15	Chella Choi	73	71	71	70			285	$16,425
T16	Karine Icher	75	70	72	70			287	$14,764
T16	Sydnee Michaels	71	77	70	69			287	$14,764
T16	Angela Stanford	69	70	76	72			287	$14,764
T19	Gerina Piller	73	70	74	71			288	$13,253
T19	Lizette Salas	73	70	72	73			288	$13,253
T21	Austin Ernst	73	76	71	69			289	$12,347
T21	Pornanong Phatlum	72	71	72	74			289	$12,347
T23	Brittany Lincicome	72	73	74	71			290	$11,233
T23	Brittany Lang	74	72	73	71			290	$11,233
T23	Hee Young Park	73	71	74	72			290	$11,233
T26	Julieta Granada	75	74	73	71			293	$10,422
T26	Gaby Lopez	71	74	73	75			293	-
28	Lexi Thompson	73	74	73	74			294	$10,024
T29	Na Yeon Choi	78	70	74	73			295	$9,430
T29	Alena Sharp	76	73	72	74			295	$9,430
T31	Azahara Munoz	71	75	77	73			296	$8,722
T31	Margarita Ramos	75	73	74	74			296	$8,722
33	Candy Hannemann	81	75	70	72			298	$8,212
T34	Alejandra Llaneza	79	76	73	72	.		300	$7,702
T34	Jane Park	73	73	76	78			300	$7,702
36	Q Baek	80	74	78	75			307	$7,250