Grace Park (golfer)

In this Korean name, the family name is Park.

Grace Park (born 6 March 1979) 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.

Grace Park 박지은
Personal information
Full name	Grace Park
Born	(1979-03-06) 6 March 1979 (age 43) Seoul, South Korea
Height	168 cm (5 ft 6 in)
Sporting nationality	South Korea
Residence	Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S.
Career
College	Arizona State University Ewha Womans University
Turned professional	1999
Former tour(s)	Futures Tour (joined 1999) LPGA Tour (joined 2000)
Professional wins	11
Number of wins by tour
LPGA Tour	6
Symetra Tour	5
Best results in LPGA major championships (wins: 1)
Chevron Championship	Won: 2004
Women's PGA C'ship	2nd: 2003
U.S. Women's Open	T6: 2000
du Maurier Classic	DNP
Women's British Open	T3: 2003
Achievements and awards
Futures Tour Player of the Year 1999 LPGA Vare Trophy 2004 Honda Award 2002

Grace Park
Hangul	박지은
Revised Romanization	Bak Ji-eun
McCune–Reischauer	Pak Chiŭn

Amateur career

Park was born Park Ji-eun (Korean: 박지은) 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

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)

LPGA Tour (6)

Legend

LPGA Tour major championships (1)

Other LPGA Tour (5)

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

LPGA Tour playoff record (0–1)

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

Futures Tour (5)

• 1999 (5) Betty Puskar FUTURES Golf Classic, YWCA Briarwood FUTURES Open, SmartSpikes FUTURES Classic, Carolina National FUTURES Classic, Greater Lima FUTURES Open

Major championships

Wins (1)

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

Results timeline

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

• 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

Amateur

• Espirito Santo Trophy (representing South Korea): 1998

Professional

• Lexus Cup (representing Asia team): 2005, 2006 (winners)

References

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

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Grace Park (golfer).

• Grace Park at the LPGA Tour official site  
• at the Wayback Machine (archived 8 January 2008)