Grace Park (golfer)

Template:Short description Template:Family name hatnote Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox golfer Template:Infobox Korean name/auto Grace Park (born 6 March 1979), born Park Ji-eun (Template:Korean), is a South Korean retired 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

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Park had an outstanding amateur career in the United States being Rolex Junior Player of the Year in 1994 and 1996,<ref name="Ajga">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref name="Futures">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She was named Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year.<ref name="FutPOY">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Dead link</ref>

In June 2012, Park announced her retirement from golf.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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	Template:Flagicon Pat Hurst Template:Flagicon Juli Inkster
2	28 Jan 2001	The Office Depot	70-69-70-71=280	−6	1 stroke	Template:Flagicon Karrie Webb
3	3 Nov 2002	Cisco World Ladies Match Play Championship	22 holes			Template:Flagicon Midori Yoneyama
4	4 May 2003	Michelob Light Open at Kingsmill	67-68-69-71=275	−9	1 stroke	Template:Flagicon Cristie Kerr Template:Flagicon Lorena Ochoa Template:Flagicon Karrie Webb
5	28 Mar 2004	Kraft Nabisco Championship	72-69-67-69=277	−11	1 stroke	Template:Flagicon Aree Song
6	31 Oct 2004	CJ Nine Bridges Classic	66-69-65=200	−16	5 strokes	Template:Flagicon Carin Koch Template:Flagicon Annika Sörenstam

LPGA Tour playoff record (0–1)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent	Result
1	2003	McDonald's LPGA Championship	Template:Flagicon 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	Template:Flagicon 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. Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend 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)

External links

• Template:LPGA player