Park Sung-Hyun: South Korea’s Golfing Rookie Dominates the LPGA Tour in 2017

In recent years, Korean golfers have been making incredible strides in the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tours. The LPGA tour takes place weekly and has several competitions around the world which include the US Women’s Open Golf Championship, ANA Inspiration, Women’s PGA Championship, Women’s British Open, and The Evian Championship as its five major championships. The LGPA itself is headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida at LGPA International and whose competitions attract elite female golfers from around the world to compete to see who is the best of the best.

In a speech on his recent trip to South Korea, United States President Donald Trump remarked at the Koreans’ specific achievements in these tournaments as South Korean golfers dominated the top 10 spots after the US Women’s Open 2017 which took place at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey back in July. Along with dominating the top 10, South Korean golfer Park Sung-hyun won the competition by taking 1^st place in the competition. She debuted just this year in the LGPA and already topped LPGA’s money list with a current $2,335,883 in the bank. She also became the LGPA’s first ever rookie to top the world rankings along with being the fourth South Korean woman to hold the no. 1 spot.

On November 16^th, 2017, Park Sung-hyun received the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year trophy as the LPGA Tour’s top rookie of 2017 in a ceremony at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort in Naples, Florida. Despite being presented the award in November, Park actually was able to secure the award back in October when it was clear she overtook American golfer Angel Yin, aged 19, whom wouldn’t be able to make up the points needed to retake Park. After Park’s win at the US Women’s Open in 2017, she also went on to win at the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open in August. The Korea Herald remarked in an article about her achievements also that “no rookie has won the money title, scoring title, Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year in the same year since Nancy Lopez in 1978” which Park was able to achieve this year.

Park Sung-hyun, aged 24, was born in Seoul, South Korea and holds her current residence in Orlando, Florida. She turned professional in 2012 and joined the KLPGA (Korean Ladies Professional Golf Association) tour in 2014 to which she has accumulated 10 wins and the LPGA tour this year to which she has accumulated 2. She is currently sponsored by Nefs, TaylorMade, Beanpole Golf and has appeared in countless interviews both domestically, where she has earned the nickname ‘Namdalla’ (which translates to ‘She’s Different’) and abroad. Park, who just joined the international tour this year, has no clear signs of stopping yet, along with South Korea’s dominance in the sport.

Golf is increasingly popular in the country, producing many skilled athletes in the process. Although the highest ranked South Korean male golfer is ranked at no. 46, a title which goes to golfer Kim Si-woo, Korea’s woman golfers have been consistently impressing with their overwhelming dominance in international rankings. In an interview with CNN, golf instructor Brian Mogg, who has been working in training South Korean golfers in the country, contributes their success to Korean societal and cultural norms which value a high level of discipline and hard-work which has ended up transitioning into sports such as golf. This, he says, becomes the root of South Korean success in Korean golfers such as Park.

 

                  Written by: Lacey Bonner

Originally from the Washington DC metropolitan area, 3rd year student and Candidate for a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Candidate for Bachelor of Arts in the Korean Language at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, current exchange student for a 1-year period at Korea University and intern at VANK (Voluntary Agency Network of Korea)