Inbee Park wins North Texas Shootout for 2nd time

IRVING, Texas (AP) — Inbee Park won the LPGA Tour’s North Texas Shootout for the second time in three years Sunday, closing with a bogey-free 6-under 65 for a three stroke victory.

Park finished at 15-under 269 at Las Colinas for her second victory this year and 14th on the tour. The 26-year-old South Korean player, the HSBC Women’s Champions winner in March in Singapore, earned $195,000 to push her career total to nearly $10.8 million.

Cristie Kerr and Hee Young Park tied for second. The 37-year-old Kerr had three consecutive birdies to finish her round of 66. Hee Young Park also had a 66, birdieing the final two holes after her only bogey at No. 16.

Lexi Thompson, who shared the third-round lead with Inbee Park, closed with a 69 to tie for fourth with Maria McBride (65) at 11 under.

Park, ranked No. 2 in the world, never surrendered the lead after consecutive birdies at the second and third holes. This is the fourth season in a row in which she has multiple victories.

Lydia Ko, coming off a win last week in California, will maintain the No. 1 ranking even after the 18-year-old from New Zealand had a closing 71 to tie for 41st at even par.

A stroke behind Park midway through the round, Thompson thought she had a chance to get even again after her approach to about 5 feet at the 415-yard ninth hole. But before she made that birdie putt, Park curled in a much longer putt there to get to 12 under.

The gap between them was four strokes after Park made a 10-foot birdie putt at the 390-yard 15th hole to get to 14 under. Thompson hit her approach through that green and made a bogey.

Angela Stanford, who lives in nearby Fort Worth and attended TCU, was at 10 under after a 69. That was a stroke ahead of a trio of defending champion Stacy Lewis (67), Juli Inkster (67) and Karrie Webb (70).

It was the first top-10 finish since 2011 for Inkster, the 54-year-old Solheim Cup captain and 31-time tour winner.

McBride had made only $49,315 in her 32 previous starts since 2012, when the Swede had her last top-10 finish. The tie for fourth will net her $61,259.

Brooke Henderson, the 17-year-old Canadian who nearly made a playoff last week in San Francisco and was the second-round leader in North Texas, opened Sunday with a birdie to get to 9 under and match the leaders who had not yet teed off.

But Henderson was out of contention after a three-hole stretch that started with a bogey at the par-5 third hole, where her approach settled in a concrete culvert under a city street between holes. She hit her tee shot at the 165-yard fourth hole into the water fronting the green and had double bogey, then had another bogey at the fifth hole.

Henderson shot a 73 to tie for 13th at 6-under 278.

The LPGA Tour last year denied Henderson a membership waiver to its minimum age requirement of 18. Just to play in Texas, she took an overnight flight after finishing the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic and then had to endure a qualifying round stretched over two days because of weather before a playoff just to make the field.