FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sunday, July 1st, 2018
NOTABLE QUOTES – KPMG WOMEN’S PGA CHAMPIONSHIP, SUNDAY’S FINAL ROUND: PARK DEFEATS RYU AND HATAOKA IN PLAYOFF
NBC Sports Group Notable Quotes
KPMG Women’s PGA Championship
Final Round
Sunday, July 1, 2018
Kemper Lakes Golf Club
Kildeer, Illinois
**Sung Hyun Park defeated So Yeon Ryu with a birdie on the 2nd playoff hole to win the 2018 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
**Nasa Hataoka was eliminated on the 1st playoff hole when Park and Ryu each made birdie.
**Hataoka, Park and Ryu each finished at 10-under par at the conclusion of regulation
**Hataoka’s 8-under par 64 was the lowest final round score in the history of this championship
Final KPMG Women’s PGA Championship Leaderboard
**Sung Hyun Park -10
So Yeon Ryu -10
Nasa Hataoka -10
Jessica Korda -7
Angel Yin -7
On Sung Hyun Park, 2018 KPMG Women’s PGA Champion
Dan Hicks – “The only player with a bogey-free round today does not let this opportunity get away from her. South Korea’s rising star has taken it to another level.”
Paige Mackenzie – “She lives for the chase. Her reputation is that she loves to try come from behind on big championships.”
Mark Rolfing – “She showed no signs of any nerves with the putter coming down the stretch.”
Mackenzie – “Her nickname in Korea means “Shut up and attack.” I think for all of us it was very much that coming down the stretch watching her in the playoff. Two birdies to finish off her round. We really got to see a major champion perform in major champion ways.”
Gary Koch – “We touched on the fact that at times she had trouble with her putting under pressure. That was certainly not the case today.”
On Park’s up-and-down for par on 16 during regulation from inside the hazard
Tom Abbott – “What a shot at the right time.”
Rolfing – “That was the shot of the tournament right there.”
Tom Abbott – “The up and down of the year.”
Sung Hyun Park speaking with NBC’s Steve Sands following her victory
Sung Hyun Park – “It is a big honor to win this tournament. I waited for this moment for so long. I am also satisfied with my play that I didn’t make any bogeys today and very thrilled to have this trophy today.”
Park – “When I was in a playoff I was thinking about the moment I was playing in last year’s U.S. Women’s Open and that really helped me a lot.”
On So Yeon Ryu, 2018 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship runner-up
Koch (on Ryu’s drive into the water on 17 during regulation) – “That was the one place you couldn’t afford to go.”
Hicks (on Ryu’s birdie on the 1st playoff hole) – “After hitting a poor approach, sometimes, you never know. Ryu shows us again what can happen at a major championship.”
So Yeon Ryu speaking with NBC’s Kay Cockerill following the playoff
So Yeon Ryu – “To be honest without the 17th, I would say this week’s performance was one of my best performances I’ve ever had. Really no complaints. Well, at 17, maybe I guess I drew it a little too much and then the wind just took it really hard to the left and it landed in the water hazard. I fought really hard. I had a lot of tough moments on the golf course today. I prayed a lot. Maybe it was not something for me Maybe it is going to come for later. I just really proud of myself how I played today and congratulations to Sung Hyun Park.”
Ryu – “When I made a double bogey at the second, that was a big disappointment. The thing is, I knew my game was there. I knew I had a chance to make a lot of birdies. Just keep talking to myself that you are a good enough player to go through all this. While I know it would have been great to win the tournament without the playoff, at least I made the playoff. I made a birdie at the first playoff hole as well. I thought I made that last birdie putt, but just missed. It is what it is.”
On the sudden death playoff
Mackenzie – “With any major championship, you want to bring out the best in the players. You want it to separate the field. You want the best players in the world to win your championship. This is absolutely no exception when you have these two players coming down the stretch.”
Hicks – “How about that, we don’t see any birdies nearly all day long, and two in the throes of this major championship pressure on 18.”
On Sunday at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship
Paige Mackenzie – “Hanging on is going to be a theme for the remainder of this round. These final three holes are playing so difficult.”
Mackenzie – “The theme all week is how this golf course has dried out. Received so much rain prior to the championship. It is playing so differently from the practice rounds earlier in the week.” –
Tom Abbott – “Drama all the way to the end. That’s what we expect at Kemper Lakes.”
On Nasa Hataoka, 8-under par 64 on Sunday, lowest final round in the history of this championship
Tom Abbott – “My word what a Sunday this is for Nasa.”
Jerry Foltz – “One of the Japanese photographers who we see at number of events just walked by, turned around and said, ‘I can’t watch anymore’
Jerry Foltz – “Jason McDede, caddie on fellow competitor Nelly Korda’s bag, said, ‘Jerry, I’m glad you came out here to watch one of Shell’s Greatest Rounds of Golf in history.” It has been amazing.”
Hicks – “So many people think she has all of the right stuff. We have seen examples of that today in the pressure-packed major championship final round. Just has not blinked.”
Mackenzie – “One of the things she is very good at is being comfortable low under par. At 19, she is mature beyond her years.”
Foltz – “This woman is as tough as can be. Seems like the higher the pressure, the bigger the moment, the better she is.”
Mackenzie – “A young 19-year old, she is riding high and a lot of momentum coming off of a win last week. She has shown a lot of guts playing under pressure.”
On Brooke Henderson, T6 at 6-under par (2-over 74 on Sunday)
Mackenzie – “She has got to be so frustrated with not getting anything out of her round.”
Hicks – “Breaks a club and then makes a long par putt. Showing some grit.”
Mackenzie – “Her putting the last few days has been a bit off. She had a great putting round the first day, but Friday, 31 putts, yesterday, 32 and is seemingly still cold with the putter. No doubt has an effect. You can gain confidence from seeing a lot of putts go in but you can lose confidence when you are seeing putts not fall.”
Mackenzie – “She is not afraid to change putters. Given the last couple of days going so cold, it wouldn’t surprise me to see a new one.”
Golf Central Notable Quotes
On the sudden death playoff between Hataoka, Park and Ryu
Karen Stupples – “Imagine Tiger and Phil getting into a playoff at the U.S. Open. All of America would have been tuned in to see it. Very much the same way with women’s golf is like in Asia. That is what we had today, and I know Asia was tuned in.”
Arron Oberholser – “Highest level of golf I have seen on either tour in the last couple of years. You have to throw in what we saw today in with what Jordan Spieth last year at the Open to win that championship, which was incredible stuff coming down the stretch. Today what we saw is right up there in my opinion.”
Rich Lerner – “So Yeon Ryu really epitomizes that old saying, win with humility and, in this case, lose with class.”
Lerner – Major championships, as a fan or as a journalist, you like to see clutch moments and you like to see great play. I think we had it all today.”
-NBC Sports Group-
