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Angela Park was born in Brazil. As a young
girl, she moved to southern California, where she grew up.
She took up golf and became one of the top young amateur golfers
in the country, finishing in the top 10 in 24 of the 29 AJGA
events she played. Perhaps her biggest achievement as an amateur
was beating In Kyung Kim at the 2005 US Women's Amateur before
losing to Morgan Pressel in the semifinals.
After Song Hee Kim petitioned the Futures
Tour to lower its minimum age to 17, Angela decided to join
the tour for 2006. First, though, she played in one final
event as an amateur, finishing tied for 15th at the Kraft
Nabisco Championship. She then turned pro and joined the Futures
Tour, where she had good success. By the final tournament
of the year, she had risen to fifth on the money list; if
she could maintain that position, she would earn her exempt
status for 2007. But she did not play that well in the final
event, and someone else got that last card.
If Angela was crushed, she moved past it.
At LPGA Q-School a few months later, she easily earned her
exempt card by finishing fifth. Indeed, she even led the tournament
for a while. So she will have her chance in 2007 to test herself
against the game's best as one of the youngest rookies on
tour.
In 2007, Angela Park almost immediately took
control of the Rookie of the Year race. She struggled somewhat
at the first tournament of the year, but at the second, the
Fields Open, she opened the week with a 66 and continued to
stay in contention much of the week, finishing tied for third
in the end. She continued to play well after that, making
every cut and finishing for the most part in the top 25 at
the next 9 events she played.
She returned to contention at the Ginn Tribute
in June, charging out to a first round lead with a 66. She
notched her second top ten there. The next week, she did it
again, seizing control of the first round lead. But this was
a far more impressive time to do it, for it was the year's
second Major, the LPGA Championship. She continued to play
well all week, finishing 5th, her first top ten at a Major.
Her run at the Majors was not done. Just two
weeks later, she once again took the first round lead at a
Major, this time the US Women's Open. The event was plagued
with rain and weather delays. Still, Park found herself in
the lead for much of the first two days. Johnny Miller was
so impressed with her swing that he called it the best in
the entire LPGA. Going into the final round, she was still
near the top of the leaderboard, and rallied towards the end
to put herself close to the win with just a couple of holes
to go. In the end, it wasn't enough, and she finished tied
for second. But two consecutive top five finishes in Majors
gave her a huge lead in the Rookie race, one she would never
relinquish: she went on to become the sixth woman with Korean
blood to win the Rookie of the Year award in the past ten
years. Had she won either of those Majors, she would have
become the youngest in history of either gender to win a Major.
She missed her only cut of the year at the
year's final Major, the Women's British Open, another impressive
record, and went on to notch eight top tens and make nearly
a million dollars. She did not win an event, but she came
close. After the Open, highlights included a fantastic final
round 63 at the Navistar Classic to finish tied for third,
and a week long charge at the Samsung World Championship which
came up short; she finished third there, too. She ended the
year with a wonderful speech accepting her Rookie of the Year
award, and by playing on the losing International team at
the Lexus Cup (she represented Brazil and played against the
Asian squad, meaning she was facing a team of mostly Korean
golfers!). Although her team lost, she won two of the three
matches she played.
Still only 19 at the end of 2007, the future
looks insanely bright for Angela Park.
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