HEE YOUNG PARK

The Facts

Capsule Bio

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 was the only exempt Korean rookie on tour in 2008.

In 2008, Hee Young had a pretty decent campaign, although she was overshadowed by her fellow KLPGA refugee Na Yeon Choi. Still, she played quite well, easily maintaining her exempt status, and notching her career best Major finish at the British Open besides. She also signed a multi-year sponsorship deal with Hana Bank and Elord in 2008.

Hee Young's second year on tour was significantly better than her first. She made more top tens (6), earned over $600,000 for the year, and finished 20th on the money list. Among the highlights was her 2nd place finish in Thailand. That event almost turned out very differently: she was deathly ill in round one, shot a 79, and ended up in the hospital. The next day, however, she shot a 64, her best ever score, and ended the week behind only world number one Lorena Ochoa.

Park had a tie for second in Japan as well, and a tie for fifth at the season ending Tour Championship. She also had her two best Major finishes, a tie for 9th at the US Women's Open and a tie for 11th at the Ricoh British Open. She still had a tendency to shoot a great round followed by a not so good one, but at least her overall results were getting better and better.

At the end of the year, her chief sponsor Hana Bank published a golf lesson book featuring her and In Kyung Kim. It was sold in stores in Korea and given away to valued customers of the bank.

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