Park In-bee wins her third tournament of the season

Newlywed Park In-bee, 26, kissed the first winning trophy since her marriage. The joy was two-fold as she has retained her No. 1 ranking in the world in 22 weeks.

Park shot a 1-under 71 Sunday to clinch a tense two-shot victory at the Fubon LPGA Taiwan Championship for a 22-under-par 266 total at the Miramar Golf and Country Club (par 72) near Taipei.

After losing at two consecutive tournaments by one stroke since her wedding on October 13, Park has held onto her lead for four straight days and achieved a wire-to-wire win, which is her third victory of the season. In second place was Stacey Lewis, who finished behind Park by two strokes. Had Lewis won, Park could have slid to second place again in a week.

Park said in a recent interview, "I have no problems going from the tee box to the green. But my putting is not satisfactory compared with last year. Ball would not find the hole if it was not an OK birdie." Yet at this tournament, Park`s characteristic computer-precise putting has rekindled. The number of putting per round, which had been an average of 29 as of last week, was reduced to 27.75 during the first four days of this event.

Park, who shot a 10-under-par 62, the minimum under-par tie record for 36-hole LPGA tours at the first two rounds, started taking the lead by four strokes at the third round on Sunday, but she had a tough time reducing the number of stroke due to the strong wind. In the beginning of the third round, she made two birdies and two bogies, taking a one-stoke lead, and Park secured the first place by making a birdie in the 17th hole.

After returning to Korea for a short while, Park will leave for Las Vegas in the U.S. on Wednesday, where she will prepare for the “Lorena Ochoa Invitational” golf tournament for 2014 to be held in Guadalajara, Mexico from Nov. 13 to Nov. 16.

South Korean-born New Zealander Lydia Ko finished third after a six-under-par 66 at the Fubon LPGA Taiwan Championship.