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Hee Young Park was a rookie on the KLPGA tour in
2005. She played very well all year on tour, but many expected the
Rookie of the Year would be the more well known Na Yeon Choi. When
Hee Young won the PAVV Invitational, one of the more prominent events
on the KLPGA tour, however, she moved to the front of the Rookie
of the Year standings. The win was an impressive one: among the
top LPGA golfers she beat were Meena Lee, Soo-Yun Kang (the defending
champ), Jeong Jang, Laura Diaz and Carin Koch.
Hee Young was just getting started. A few months
later, she finished 4th at the CJ 9 Bridges Classic, beating a gaggle
of top LPGA talent including world #1 Annika Sorenstam. She played
the final day with LPGA Rookie of the Year Paula Creamer, but beat
her by 6 shots in the tough conditions (73-79). Not surprisingly,
Hee Young went on to win the KLPGA's Rookie of the Year trophy.
How much respect does Hee Young get from her fellow
pros? When 50 KLPGA members were asked to name the best swings among
all Korean players, Hee Young's was picked as the best, beating
Michelle Wie, Se Ri Pak and other top stars.
As a final reward, she got to play for Korea on
the Pinx Cup team; she was the youngest player on either squad.
Hee Young played on the newly formed Ladies Asian
Golf Tour over the Winter. She promptly established herself by winning
on that tour. During this period she also played at the ANZ Ladies
Masters, which was won by high schooler Amy Yang. When the KLPGA
season started anew in 2006, it took her all of one tournament to
notch her first win of the year. She won the Phoenix Park Classic
in late April to take the early money list lead. She followed that
with a second win at the Lake Hills Classic a few months later.
This put her atop the KLPGA money list. But after that, she started
to play more inconsistently, at a time when rookie star Ji Yai Shin
was playing well virtually every week. In the end, Shin ran away
with the money list title (and just about every other award in 2006),
but Park had a very respectable second place finish on the money
list. She ended her year playing well at the Kyoraku Cup, notching
a win and a close loss.
In 2007, she had a decent season on the KLPGA, although
it was her weakest season since joining the tour. She was not able
to collect a win all year, although she did come up with three runner
up finishes. Perhaps the most painful of these came at the second
KB Star Tour event. She had a two stroke lead at one point in the
final round, when her caddie noticed that her playing partner, Eun
Hee Ji, had left one of her clubs by the green. Her caddie picked
it up and put it into Hee Young's bag. A few holes later, Ji noticed
the club was missing and spotted it in Park's bag. She called a
two stroke penalty on Park for having too many clubs in her bag.
As it turned out, Ji and Park wound up in a playoff, which Ji won;
but if it had not been for the penalty, which Ji called on Park,
Park would have been the victor. Sometimes it doesn't pay to do
someone a favor!
Hee Young focused in 2007 on preparing for the LPGA's
Q-School at the end of the year. She had been diligently studying
English and was looking forward to playing in America. She played
several LPGA events during the year; the highlight came at the Nabisco,
where she was in the hunt for several rounds before fading to 31st
at the end.
Park finished in the top five at her Q-School sectional,
then played brilliantly in the finals, eventually finishing third
to earn her exempt card for 2008. She will be the only exempt Korean
rookie on tour in 2008.
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