Following four playoff holes, the 2018 ANA Inspiration was suspended for darkness on Sunday night.
Play will resume at 8 a.m. on Monday, April 2, at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California, with Inbee Park and Pernilla Lindberg playing holes 10, 17 and 18 on repeat in sudden death format until there is a Major champion.
LEADERBOARD
T1, -15 (273) – Pernilla Lindberg, Inbee Park, Jennifer Song
Playoff Hole 1: All players made par
Playoff Hole 2: All players made par
Playoff Hole 3: Lindberg, Park made birdie; Song eliminated with par
Playoff Hole 4: Lindberg, Park made par; playoff suspended until Monday morning at 8 a.m. Pacific time
To say this tournament had everything is to sell short the drama that unfolded. There were two sister acts in the mix and among those who made appearances on the final-round leaderboard were a few who’d never won a major – Jessica Korda, Charley Hull and Caroline Masson among them – and a slew who had never even won a regular LPGA event, including Lindberg, Song, Nelly Korda, Jodi Ewart Shadoff, Ayako Uehara, Moriya Jutanugarn and Amy Olson.
Meanwhile, Park is trying for her 20th LPGA victory and eighth major championship. She was, once again remarkably in control, making putt after putt, including a difficult, downhill 25-footer on No. 17 as she birdied four of her last six holes. Through 72 holes, she used only 107 putts.
Inbee Park, Republic of Korea (-15), on her competitor Pernilla Lindberg:
“It’s always exciting to see someone playing really well in a major championship where they haven’t been in that position. I mean even she doesn’t have much experience, she’s in the last group in a playoff, but I think everybody is in the same situation in the playoff. Everybody’s nervous. Everybody wants a major win, so I think we are really playing under the same conditions.”
Pernilla Lindberg, Sweden (-15), on her play on Sunday:
“I didn’t look at the leaderboard all day. I just had a number in my head all day and that number was 16, so that was a good guess. Obviously, I didn’t get to 16, but I knew, actually, walking off the 18th, Daniel, my caddie, told me I had to make a birdie to get into the playoff, and I did it.”
WITH A WIN…
With a win, Pernilla Lindberg would become a Rolex First-Time Winner on the LPGA Tour.
Lindberg would be the fifth player to make the ANA Inspiration her first LPGA Tour victory, joining Helen Alfredsson (1993), Nanci Bowen (1995), Morgan Pressel (2007) and Stacy Lewis (2011).
Lindberg would be the 16th player to win the ANA Inspiration as her first major title and the first since Lexi Thompson in 2014.
Lindberg would be the 11th player from Sweden to win on the LPGA Tour, joining Helen Alfredsson, Louise Friberg, Sophie Gustafson, Carin Koch, Maria McBride, Liselotte Neumann, Catrin Nilsmark, Anna Nordqvist, Annika Sorenstam and Charlotta Sorenstam.
Lindberg would join Helen Alfredsson and Annika Sorenstam as Swedish players to win the ANA Inspiration.
Lindberg would be the fourth player to take a wire-to-wire victory at the ANA Inspiration (including ties), joining Pat Bradley (1986), Betsy King (1987) and Pat Hurst (1998).
With a win, Lindberg would earn $420,000, to make for $461,036 this season and $2,347,545 in her career.
A win on Monday would be Park’s eighth major victory; she would move into a tie for sixth on the all-time major victory list, tied with Betsy Rawls and behind Patty Berg (15), Mickey Wright (13), Louise Suggs (11), Babe Zaharias (10) and Annika Sorenstam (10).
A win would be Park’s 20th career LPGA victory; she would move into a tie for 26th on the LPGA’s all-time victories list, tied with Laura Davies and Cristie Kerr.
Park would be the first multiple winner of the 2018 LPGA season; on March 18, she won the Bank of Hope Founders Cup.
With a win, Park would earn $420,000, which would make for $676,586 this season and $14,272,019 in her career, and make her the seventh player in LPGA history to reach $14 million in career earnings.
In addition to the winner’s check of $420,000, the winner will also receive:
- Five-year exemption on the LPGA Tour via Category 3 status on the LPGA Priority List (Major Winner)
- Lifetime exemption into the ANA Inspiration
- Five-year exemption into the U.S. Women’s Open, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, the Ricoh Women’s British Open and the Evian Championship
- Two points toward entrance into the LPGA Hall of Fame
- 650 points toward the 2018 Race to the CME Globe
- 60 points toward the 2018 Rolex Player of the Year Award and the 2018 Rolex ANNIKA Major Award
