Somewhere over the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Inbee Park started to let go of the disappointment of losing the Lotte Championship.

That’s right. Lose.

The world’s No. 3-ranked player and winner of five major titles had plenty of chances to win this LPGA Tour event going away, but missed more makable birdie puts on the back nine than she cares to remember.

Had she sunk back-to-back birdie putts at Nos. 13 and 14 that totaled maybe 7 feet, it’s unlikely the dramatic finish perpetrated by rookie Sei Young Kim would have happened.

But in this reality, it did, much to the delight of local golf fans packed around the 18th green at windswept Ko Olina Golf Club. It happened so quickly, this petite martial artist kicked the air out of the place, before everyone recovered with a startled roar of approval.

Park still had a chance to perform her own miracle on the first playoff hole, but predictably didn’t. Shots heard round the world don’t come in pairs. Kim came as close as you can with a chip-in from 18 feet just to force a playoff, leaving Park’s tap-in for par — that was once for the win — now just a bird’s-eye for the eventual hole-out that would come 15 minutes later.

"Obviously, the playoff, I just got to say luck was on her side," Park said. " I just tried my best today. Obviously, on the back nine I was a little bit disappointing … 1 over on the back nine is not that great, so…"

So, yeah. And how about Kim’s chip-in to force the playoff?

"Obviously, it wasn’t impossible to make that chip, obviously," Park pointed out. "It wasn’t impossible. It was not that hard of a chip. To be able to do it in that kind of situation, I really definitely give her that. She had a great chip."

Kim displayed some true grit on the back nine just to stay in it, especially considering two weeks ago she was the 54-hole leader at the ANA Inspiration and wound up finishing tied for fourth. Her final-round 75 in the LPGA’s first major that included a 39 on the closing nine, left her wanting to play better on the turn for home. She did just that on Saturday to give her a measure of vindication that she’s got game.

As for Park, she is in San Francisco for the next stop on tour. The top two ranked players in the world, Lydia Ko and Stacy Lewis, return to the LPGA scene after opting out of playing in windy West Oahu.

And folks, it howled all four days, particularly on Saturday. With only four rounds in the 60s, it was more about survival in the final round than anything for most of the world’s best women players out there. That’s what makes Park’s missed chances of moving up in the world rankings to challenge Ko and Lewis that much more troubling.

"You know, just getting so used to the wind here," Park said. "It doesn’t really bother me anymore because you kind of expect the wind. Obviously, it’s hard, like certain short putts, because it’s really hard to concentrate. But I think it’s just getting used to it. It was tough out there, but I definitely could have done better today."

As for areas of improvement to keep Park up near the top of the Rolex rankings, she didn’t waste any time with a long-winded explanation.

"I feel like my game is in really good shape," Park said. "I’m hitting the ball great. I just need to putt a little bit better. The short ones I missed today; and I missed probably five or six this week. If I can improve on my putting a little bit, I think I can win."