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 Despite her one blemish on the par-three 17th, Park fired a
four-under-par 68 to join three others in a tie for third behind
co-leaders Minjee Lee of Australia and Taiwan's Candie Kung, who
carded matching 67s around the demanding Serapong Course.
Park stormed to the title a year ago without dropping a shot and
although she returned this year under an injury cloud following back
issues, the seven-times major winner picked up where she left off on
a course she appears born to play.
Her remarkable run of consistency in Singapore reached its peak with
a birdie on the 16th, her fourth of the day, that marked her 115th
hole in the tournament without a bogey stretching back to the ninth
hole of the third round in 2014.
The run ended with a bogey-four on the next hole but Park shrugged
it off to birdie the par-five 18th to put herself in prime position
to become the first repeat champion in the tournament's nine-year
history.
"Yeah, it was going to come at some point," Park said of the streak
in a post-round interview at the $1.5 million LPGA restricted field
event.
"It's actually nice to get it over with today and without playing
with it for the next three days. It was a good round. To make a
bogey is disappointing, but it happens."
Park, who was a cumulative 25-under-par during the streak, admitted
she was still a little rusty after an extended off-season to rest
her back but was delighted to have shot what she said was her best
round of the season.
"My game needs to sharpen up a little bit more but today was
actually a really great day and gives me a lot of confidence going
into the next three rounds," she added.
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If anyone was looking rusty it was tournament favorite and world
number one Lydia Ko, who was one-over through 15 holes before two
late birdies lifted her up to one-under for the round and into a tie
for 27th.
"I didn't really have that many birdie opportunities today, so it
was almost a day where I really couldn't shoot low unless my putter
was really hot," the 18-year-old New Zealander, who skipped last
week's event in Thailand, said.
"I finished pretty solidly and I made a birdie on 16 and a birdie on
18. I've just got to take the positives from today and go into
tomorrow and try to improve the things that needs a little bit of
work."
(Reporting by John O'Brien; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)
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