Poll: Inbee Wins Women's British Open, Career Grand Slam?
/Not sure it's an ideal situation to have Inbee Park win her seventh (!) major only to have a fight break out over this as a "career Grand Slam" moment.
But since ESPN's telecast (not the website headline writer) and the LPGA Tour insisted, many fought back saying it was not a career Grand Slam because, even as former winner of the Evian Championship when it was just a great tournament and not a major, Park has not won the modern LPGA Grand Slam of five added by Commissioner Mike Whan designated it so. Folks then were not exactly unaware of this situation arising.
But don't let that cloud her 12-under-par 276 win at Turnberry edging Jin-Young Ko by three. Still the LPGA felt the need to issue this clarification on their stance:
The LPGA endeavors to maintain fair comparisons - as they relate to major championships and grand slams – from generation to generation. Despite the dictionary definition of grand slam, when translated to golf it has been widely understood that accomplishing the grand slam has been to win all four major championships.
The term grand slam was translated to golf 20 years before the LPGA was founded and the LPGA has not always had four majors. We began our major history with three. In some years we competed for two, in some years three, in some years four and now five.
The LPGA did not add a fifth major championship to change history, alter discussion or make the accomplishment of a “grand slam” more difficult. We added a fifth major to create an incremental opportunity for the women’s game.
For players (active or retired) who have won four different majors available in their careers, the LPGA has and will continue to acknowledge them as having accomplished a Career Grand Slam.
And for players (active or retired) who have won five different majors available in their careers, the LPGA has and will continue to acknowledge them as having accomplished a Super Career Grand Slam.
Likewise for players who win four consecutive majors in a single season, the LPGA will acknowledge them as having accomplished a Grand Slam.
And for players who win five majors in a single season, the LPGA will acknowledge them as having accomplished a Super Grand Slam.
Grand Slam, Super Grand Slam? Messy when you have five majors.
What say you?
**Randall Mell summarizes why some are saying this is not a Grand Slam and why the LPGA Tour is.
GOLF CHANNEL
The phrase “Grand Slam” originated in card games in the early 1800s as a way to describe the winning of all possible tricks in a single game. The phrase is most closely connected to the game of Bridge, in which a standard deck of 52 playing cards is divided evenly among four players. There are 13 matches, or tricks, played in which each player uses one card with the goal of winning that particular trick. If a player wins all 13 tricks, he or she is considered to have won a Grand Slam. Park has not won all possible LPGA majors, since the Evian was not considered a major when she won it.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Same reasoning as Golf Channel – Park needs to win an Evian Championship to complete a career Grand Slam. The AP's position is significant because its copy is carried by thousands of news outlets around the world, including newspapers, websites and TV and radio stations.
