Inbee Park’s impressive second-half surge continued on Thursday in the first round of the Sunrise LPGA Taiwan Championship (@taiwanlpga). Park fired a 7-under 65 to take a two-shot lead over Rolex Rankings No. 1 and Taiwan native Yani Tseng (@YaniTseng) after 18 holes of play at the Sunrise Golf & Country Club. Park tallied seven birdies in her bogey-free opening round and she has now shot under par in each of her last eight rounds in LPGA events.

Tseng, who won the inaugural event here in Taiwan last year, is alone in second place after shooting a 5-under-par 67 in the first round but there is a group of four players who sit not far behind at 4-under-par – Nicole Castrale, Pornanong Phatlum, Danielle Kang and Hee Young Park.

Here she comes again…Over the past few months, it’s been hard to find an LPGA leaderboard that didn’t include Inbee Park’s name on it.

Park’s T15 finish last week at the LPGA KEB·HanaBank Championship ended what had been an impressive streak for the 24-year-old South Korean. She had recorded 10 straight top-10 finishes, a streak that dated back to early June at the Wegmans LPGA Championship. It included two victories, four runner-up finishes and eight top-5 finishes while falling a few top-10s shy of Karrie Webb’s LPGA record of 16 straight top-10s.

But while that streak may have ended for Park, it appears she’s on track to beginning another one this week following her hot start in Thursday’s first round of the Sunrise LPGA Taiwan Championship. Park’s 7-under 65 has given her a two-shot lead after the first round and she was pleased with how her game is feeling.

“Obviously with that number, everything went really well today,” Park said. “I hit the ball great.  I mean I hit a lot of short irons in, so I hit a lot of shots close and I was able to make a lot of birdies.”

It’s been just two weeks since Park captured her second victory of the 2012 season at the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia. That win marked the first time that Park has enjoyed a multi-win season in her career and she seems pleased about the way she’s been able to improve over the past few months.

“I mean that was a big accomplishment for me, and a lot of really a lot of confidence boost for me, and I mean it's the first time that's happened for my sixth year on the tour, and I'm really happy for that and really want to give myself credit for that,” Park said of her two wins. “And hopefully it's going to be a better one next year and two years later.  I just want to improve myself every year.”

Topics: Alumnae in the News, LPGA Tour