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Grace Park (golfer)

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Grace Park
박지은
Personal information
Full nameGrace Park
Born (1979-03-06) March 6, 1979 (age 45)
Seoul, South Korea
Height168 cm (5 ft 6 in)
Sporting nationality South Korea
ResidenceScottsdale, Arizona, U.S.
Career
CollegeArizona State University
Ewha Womans University
Turned professional1999
Former tour(s)Futures Tour (joined 1999)
LPGA Tour (joined 2000)
Professional wins11
Number of wins by tour
LPGA Tour6
Epson Tour5
Best results in LPGA major championships
(wins: 1)
Chevron ChampionshipWon: 2004
Women's PGA C'ship2nd: 2003
U.S. Women's OpenT6: 2000
du Maurier ClassicDNP
Women's British OpenT3: 2003
Achievements and awards
Futures Tour
Player of the Year
1999
LPGA Vare Trophy2004
Honda Award2002
Grace Park
Hangul
박지은
Revised RomanizationBak Ji-eun
McCune–ReischauerPak Chiŭn

Grace Park (born March 6, 1979), born Park Ji-eun (Korean박지은), is a retired South Korean professional golfer on the LPGA Tour. She was a member of the LPGA Tour from 2000 until her retirement in 2012 and won six LPGA Tour events, including one major championship, during her career.

Amateur career

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Park was born Park Ji-eun in Seoul, South Korea. She moved to Hawaii at the age of 12, and then to Arizona. She received the 1996 Dial Award as top female high-school scholar-athlete in the United States. She attended Arizona State University and graduated from Ewha Womans University in 2003. In 2002, she won the Honda Award (now the Honda Sports Award) as the best female collegiate golfer in the nation.[1][2]

Park had an outstanding amateur career in the United States being Rolex Junior Player of the Year in 1994 and 1996,[3] winning several amateur championships in 1998 including the U.S. Women's Amateur and the Women's Western Amateur. She tied for eighth as an amateur in the 1999 U.S. Women's Open.

Professional career

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Park turned professional in 1999 and decided to play on the Futures Tour instead of taking exemptions to LPGA Tour tournaments. She won five of the ten tournaments she entered and became one of the first three golfers to gain automatic LPGA Tour exempt status by finishing top of the money list.[4] She was named Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year.[5]

She won at least one LPGA tournament in each season from 2000 to 2004, including her only major, the 2004 Kraft Nabisco Championship. The years 2005 and 2006 were difficult for Park as she suffered from back and neck injuries, and success continued to elude her the following two seasons as well. In April 2009 it was reported that Park had undergone a successful hip surgery, and that she would be off the LPGA tour for several months.[6]

In June 2012, Park announced her retirement from golf.[7]

The Boston Globe has described Park as "the striking beauty, the tall and proud walk, the dazzling smile" and she has attracted sponsorship from Nike and Rolex.

Professional wins (11)

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LPGA Tour (6)

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Legend
LPGA Tour major championships (1)
Other LPGA Tour (5)
No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 Jun 4, 2000 Kathy Ireland Greens.com LPGA Classic 66-68-70-70=274 −14 1 stoke United States Pat Hurst
United States Juli Inkster
2 Jan 28, 2001 The Office Depot 70-69-70-71=280 −6 1 stroke Australia Karrie Webb
3 Nov 3, 2002 Cisco World Ladies Match Play Championship 22 holes Japan Midori Yoneyama
4 May 4, 2003 Michelob Light Open at Kingsmill 67-68-69-71=275 −9 1 stroke United States Cristie Kerr
Mexico Lorena Ochoa
Australia Karrie Webb
5 Mar 28, 2004 Kraft Nabisco Championship 72-69-67-69=277 −11 1 stroke South Korea Aree Song
6 Oct 31, 2004 CJ Nine Bridges Classic 66-69-65=200 −16 5 strokes Sweden Carin Koch
Sweden Annika Sörenstam

LPGA Tour playoff record (0–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2003 McDonald's LPGA Championship Sweden Annika Sörenstam Lost to par on first extra hole

Futures Tour (5)

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Major championships

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Wins (1)

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Year Championship Winning score Margin Runner-up
2004 Kraft Nabisco Championship −11 (72-69-67-69=277) 1 stroke South Korea Aree Song

Results timeline

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Tournament 1995 1997 1998 1999 2000
Kraft Nabisco Championship CUT CUT 23 T39
LPGA Championship CUT
U.S. Women's Open T63 CUT T8 T6
du Maurier Classic
Tournament 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Kraft Nabisco Championship T28 T9 CUT 1 5 T35 T69 CUT CUT
LPGA Championship T30 T15 2 3 WD CUT CUT
U.S. Women's Open T39 T18 T10 T64 T52 CUT CUT
Women's British Open ^ T32 T53 T3 T13 T8 T50 CUT
Tournament 2010 2011 2012
Kraft Nabisco Championship T10 CUT CUT
LPGA Championship WD 77 T71
U.S. Women's Open
Women's British Open ^ CUT

^ The Women's British Open replaced the du Maurier Classic as an LPGA major in 2001.

  Win
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew
"T" = tied

Summary

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  • Starts – 46
  • Wins – 1
  • 2nd-place finishes – 1
  • 3rd-place finishes – 2
  • Top 3 finishes – 4
  • Top 5 finishes – 5
  • Top 10 finishes – 11
  • Top 25 finishes – 15
  • Missed cuts – 15
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 11
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 5

Team appearances

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Amateur

Professional

References

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  1. ^ "Park has dazzled as an amateur, pro golfer". Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
  2. ^ "Golf". CWSA. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
  3. ^ "All-Time Rolex Junior Players of the Year". American Junior Golf Association. Retrieved April 4, 2007.
  4. ^ Mickey, Lisa D. "Silver Anniversary Salute: FUTURES Tour Prepares For Next 25 Years". Duramed Futures Tour. Archived from the original on April 9, 2007. Retrieved April 27, 2007.
  5. ^ "Duramed FUTURES Tour Awards". Futures Tour. Archived from the original on February 18, 2007. Retrieved April 28, 2007.
  6. ^ "Grace Park to miss four months". Retrieved April 5, 2010. [dead link]
  7. ^ "Grace Park announces retirement". ESPN. Associated Press. June 8, 2012. Retrieved June 8, 2012.
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