Congratulations go out to the LPGA No. 1 ranked player in the world, Inbee Park for her historic win at the U.S. Women’s Open conducted by the USGA.  The Sebonack Golf Club in Southampton, NY was a monster of a course. They said it was a bomber’s delight from the tee, with its ample fairways yet the players required marksman like precision for their approach shots into the enormously undulating treacherous greens. If you were lucky enough to find your way to the right side of the pin, your putting had to have a sixth sense to find the bottom of the cup. Inbee Park most definitely had it this weekend. She is one of the best putters in the world as evident in her putting prowess at the U.S Open. She averages 28.43 putts per round. Her putting skill certainly contributes to her season scoring average of 69.67 per round. Tee to green she can flat out play.

However, I think she possesses an amazing skill set which will never appear on a stat sheet and that seems to be the skill launching her into the record books. She stays in the moment.

Inbee Park has an extraordinarily calm demeanor and a Gimbal like quality to her play. She does this time and time again, whether she hits an errant tee shot or miss judges a pitch shot to the green only to find it coming to rest in a greenside bunker. Her calm and steady demeanor prevails. This of course was very evident when she made the turn during the final round, one over par for the day with a 4 shot lead over I.K. Kim. The 10^th hole offered up a birdie for Inbee but then bogies found their way on the card at 14 and 15. Still, the calm, even demeanor carried on and pars donned the card for the final three holes. Her spectacular play gave way to achieving something that hasn’t been done since Babe Zaharias played in 1950…winning the first three majors of the season.

When asked about the final round, she said, “Believe it or not, I was very calm out there,” then went on to say, “It was weird; I didn’t feel much pressure when I was on the golf course. I was nervous last night, but on the golf course, somehow, I felt very calm.”

Inbee Park seems to always be in the moment and she always plays it one shot at a time. If you could compile stats for that, Inbee would have the number 1 world ranking hands down.  So the takeaway from this event was all about being present, staying calm, playing with an even keel and truly taking it one shot at a time.

I don’t know about you, but I’m certainly looking forward to watching her play in the Ricoh Women’s British Open in a few weeks. History could be made once again and I’m pretty sure we’ll see a lot of what we’ve already seen…. a very steady and always present Inbee Park.