QUESTION: When Is 13-Under a Bad Thing?

ANSWER: When it puts you 7 strokes in the back of the leader with simplest one round to head!

That's the location Inbee Park reveals herself in at the Manulife Financial LPGA Classic these days. It's a degree of ways exact she's been over the past yr that we are all calling this "an off week."

Clearly thirteen-below isn't always a horrific week below maximum circumstances, and it is not like she's had a awful round. She's shot 65-67-68 on a par-71 route and she or he's most effective T9 with Suzann Pettersen. It's just that plenty of players are gambling ridiculously well this week. Let me give you a couple of examples:

• Catriona Matthew shot an 8-under 63 in the first round, 2 shots better than she's ever shot in her career. On Friday she followed it up with a 7-under 64 -- still better than anything she'd ever shot before this week -- and set a personal record for a 36-hole score (5 strokes better than she'd ever been before). She shot a 3-under 68 in the third round and what did it get her? Third place, 2 off the lead.
• Gerina Pillar shot a course record 9-under 62 early in the third round. Her record didn't even make it through the day, as new leader Hee Young Park shot a NEW course record 10-under 61 in the afternoon wave.

Is it any surprise that 13-under -- normally an excellent score after 3 rounds -- just isn't getting the job done?

Inbee Park's string of consecutive victories will quit nowadays at three -- barring any clearly awesome play with the aid of Inbee and equally amazing collapses by way of the players in the front of her -- however she got 2 majors in that string, which is quite spectacular with the aid of everybody's standards.

And given that Inbee usually has to play herself into competitive shape -- she doesn't play her best the first week she comes back out on tour -- I find it hard to believe the rest of the field is drawing any consolation from this week's performance. After all, she's currently in the Top10, she's playing next week at the Marathon Classic, and then I suspect she'll head over to Fife, Scotland to prepare for the RICOH. That's the tournament that really matters to her right now.

In the meantime, GC will have the final round of the Manulife today from 2:30pm-6pm ET. If the last 3 rounds have been any indication, it should be quite a shootout!