Inbee Park

Inbee Park 박인비
— Golfer —
Park at the 2013 Women's British Open
Personal information
Born	(1988-07-12) 12 July 1988 Seoul, South Korea
Height	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Nationality	South Korea
Residence	Murrieta, California, U.S.[1]
Career
College	Kwangwoon University
Turned professional	2006
Current tour(s)	LPGA Tour (joined 2007)
Former tour(s)	Futures Tour (2006)
Professional wins	21
Number of wins by tour
LPGA Tour	13
Ladies European Tour	1
LPGA of Japan Tour	4
Other	3
Best results in LPGA major championships (Wins: 5)
ANA Inspiration	Won: 2013
Women's PGA C'ship	Won: 2013, 2014
U.S. Women's Open	Won: 2008, 2013
Women's British Open	2nd: 2012
Evian Championship	T10: 2014
Achievements and awards
LPGA Vare Trophy	2012
LPGA Tour Money Winner	2012, 2013
LPGA Player of the Year	2013
GWAA Female Player of the Year	2013

Inbee Park
Hangul	박인비
Revised Romanization	Bak Inbi
McCune–Reischauer	Pak In-bi

Inbee Park (Korean: 박인비, Hanja: 朴仁妃, pronounced [baːk in bi]; born 12 July 1988) is a South Korean professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour and the LPGA of Japan Tour. From 15 April 2013 to 1 June 2014, she was the number one ranked player in the Women's World Golf Rankings.^[2] She regained the top spot in October 2014.^[3] Park has won five major championships in her career, including three consecutive major wins during the 2013 season, becoming only the fourth LPGA Tour player to win three majors in a calendar year. She is the youngest player to win the U.S. Women's Open.

Early life and amateur career

Park was born in Seoul. She began playing golf at the age of 10. Two years later, at age 12, she moved to the United States to pursue a golf career.^[4] She won nine events on the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) circuit and was a five-time Rolex Junior All-American. She was a semifinalist at the 2003 U.S. Women's Amateur. She won the 2002 U.S. Girls' Junior and finished as runner-up in both 2003 and 2005.

While an amateur from 2004 through 2006, Park played in the Kraft Nabisco Championship as a sponsor invite and in the LPGA Takefuji Classic three times, recording two top-10 finishes.

Park graduated from Kwangwoon University in Seoul, Korea.

Professional career

2006

In 2006, after graduating from Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, Nevada, Park appealed to the LPGA for permission to attempt to qualify for the LPGA as a 17-year old. LPGA rules generally require that a player be 18 to join the Tour. The LPGA denied Park's request, so she enrolled at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas but soon after dropped out and turned professional, playing on the Duramed Futures Tour where the age of entry had been lowered to 17 in late January.^[5][6] In 2006, she recorded 11 top-10 finishes on the Futures Tour. She finished third on its season-ending money list to earn exempt status on the LPGA Tour for the 2007 season.

2007

During her rookie season in 2007, Park tied for fourth at the U.S. Women's Open and tied for second at the Safeway Classic. She finished 37th on the money list and fourth in the rookie of the year standings. In 2007, Park also changed the English spelling of her name from In-Bee to Inbee.

2008: U.S. Women's Open title

On June 29, 2008, Park won the 2008 U.S. Women's Open at Interlachen Country Club in Edina, Minnesota for her first LPGA win. At 19, she was the youngest player to win the title. In four rounds, she shot 72-69-71-71 to score 9-under-par, beating Helen Alfredsson of Sweden by 4 strokes.

2009–12

After her breakout year in 2008, Park struggled in 2009, recording only four top-10 finishes and ending the season 50th on the LPGA official money list.

Park had top-10 finishes in all four major tournaments, won twice on the LPGA of Japan Tour and finished the season ranked 12th in the world rankings.^[7]

Park's results in 2011 did not match those of the previous years. With no top-five finishes on the LPGA Tour, she sunk to 31st on the official money list and 27th in scoring average. She won once on the JLPGA Tour, at the Daikin Orchid Ladies.

Park bounced back from her 2011 slump in 2012. She had two wins on the LPGA Tour, finished in the top-three in 10 out of 23 tournaments she played, and topped the LPGA in both money earned and scoring average.

2013

Park won her fourth LPGA Tour event in the second tournament of the year at the Honda LPGA Thailand event by a single stroke. She shot a final round 67 to come from four back to finish a shot ahead of Ariya Jutanugarn.

On 7 April, Park won her second major title with a four-stroke victory at the Kraft Nabisco Championship over compatriot Ryu So-Yeon. The following week, she became the top ranked golfer in the Women's World Golf Rankings.

Park won her sixth LPGA Tour title and third of the year a couple weeks later at the North Texas LPGA Shootout. She holed a four foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to edge out Carlota Ciganda by a stroke.

On 9 June, Park won her second consecutive major of the year and third career major at the 2013 LPGA Championship at Locust Hill Country Club. After a 36-hole final day of regulation play, Park defeated Catriona Matthew on the third sudden-death playoff hole to clinch the victory. She started the third round a shot ahead of Morgan Pressel. Park became the seventh player in LPGA Tour history to win the year's opening two major championships.^[8]

On 23 June, Park won her fifth title of the season at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship when she defeated compatriot Ryu So-Yeon in a sudden-death playoff.

On 30 June, Park won her third consecutive major championship of the year and fourth career major at the 2013 U.S. Women's Open. The third consecutive major to start the season is a mark matched only by Babe Zaharias in 1950 when she won that season's only three majors.^[9] The victory was also the third consecutive for Park, a feat last accomplished on the LPGA Tour in 2008 by Lorena Ochoa when she won four consecutive tournaments. The victory was also her sixth championship overall in 2013.

2014

On 9 March, Park won the Mission Hills World Ladies Championship, an event on the Ladies European Tour. She won the event by five strokes over defending champion Suzann Pettersen. She also won the events team portion with fellow South Korean, Ryu So-Yeon. They won by twenty-eight strokes combined over the Chinese duo of Shanshan Feng and Xi Yu Lin. The team victory was her second at the event, as Park and teammate Kim Ha-Neul won the previous year.

On 8 June, Park won her tenth title on the LPGA Tour when she grabbed victory at the Manulife Financial LPGA Classic. She won the event by three strokes over Cristie Kerr. The victory was the first on Tour for Park in almost a year when she won at the 2013 U.S. Women's Open.

On 17 August, Park would win her eleventh title on the LPGA Tour and her fifth major championships when she won the 2014 LPGA Championship in a sudden-death playoff over Brittany Lincicome. Park defeated Lincicome on the first extra hole with a par. The victory was also her second LPGA Championship.

2015

Park won her 13th LPGA title in the first week of March. She shot a 66 in round one of the HSBC Women's Champions in Singapore and went wire-to-wire to win the championship. After shooting a bogey-free 65 in the final round of the Honda LPGA Thailand in Chonburi, she shot four straight bogey-free rounds in Singapore. Park, the world No. 2 in the Rolex Rankings, was paired with World No. 1 Lydia Ko and World No. 3 Stacy Lewis in the final round. Park had a two-shot lead heading into the final round and finished at 15-under-par with a final round 70. Ko finished two strokes behind Park.

Professional wins (21)

LPGA Tour wins (13)

Legend

Major championships (5)

Other LPGA Tour (8)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up	Winner's share ($)
1	29 Jun 2008	U.S. Women's Open	72-69-71-71=283	−9	4 strokes	Helen Alfredsson	560,000
2	29 Jul 2012	Evian Masters	71-64-70-66=271	−17	2 strokes	Karrie Webb Stacy Lewis	487,500
3	14 Oct 2012	Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia	69-68-65-67=269	−15	2 strokes	Choi Na-Yeon	285,000
4	24 Feb 2013	Honda LPGA Thailand	67-71-71-67=276	−12	1 stroke	Ariya Jutanugarn	225,000
5	7 Apr 2013	Kraft Nabisco Championship	70-67-67-69=273	−15	4 strokes	Ryu So-Yeon	300,000
6	28 Apr 2013	North Texas LPGA Shootout	67-70-67-67=271	−13	1 stroke	Carlota Ciganda	195,000
7	9 Jun 2013	LPGA Championship	72-68-68-75=283	−5	Playoff	Catriona Matthew	337,500
8	23 Jun 2013	Walmart NW Arkansas Championship	69-65-67=201	−12	Playoff	Ryu So-Yeon	300,000
9	30 Jun 2013	U.S. Women's Open	67-68-71-74=280	−8	4 strokes	In-Kyung Kim	585,000
10	8 Jun 2014	Manulife Financial LPGA Classic	69-66-65-61=261	−23	3 strokes	Cristie Kerr	225,000
11	17 Aug 2014	LPGA Championship	72-66-69-70=277	−11	Playoff	Brittany Lincicome	375,000
12	2 Nov 2014	Fubon LPGA Taiwan Championship	64-62-69-71=266	−22	2 strokes	Stacy Lewis	300,000
13	8 Mar 2015	HSBC Women's Champions	66-69-68-70=273	−15	2 strokes	Lydia Ko	210,000

LPGA Tour playoff record (3–3)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	2012	Manulife Financial LPGA Classic	Chella Choi Brittany Lang Hee Kyung Seo	Lang won with birdie on third extra hole Park eliminated with birdie on second hole Choi eliminated with birdie on first hole
2	2013	LPGA Championship	Catriona Matthew	Won with birdie on third extra hole
3	2013	Walmart NW Arkansas Championship	Ryu So-Yeon	Won with birdie on first extra hole
4	2014	Meijer LPGA Classic	Mirim Lee	Lost to birdie on second extra hole
5	2014	LPGA Championship	Brittany Lincicome	Won with par on first extra hole
6	2015	LPGA Lotte Championship	Kim Sei-young	Lost to eagle on first extra hole

JLPGA Tour wins (4)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	29 Jun 2010	Nishijin Ladies Classic	69-71-69=209	−7	Playoff	Chieko Amanuma
2	28 Nov 2010	Japan LPGA Tour Championship Ricoh Cup	72-72-70-73=287	−1	4 strokes	Mika Miyazato Ahn Sun-ju
3	6 Mar 2011	Daikin Orchid Ladies	72-67-66=205	−11	3 strokes	Miki Saiki
4	13 May 2012	Fundokin Ladies	70-69-68=207	−9	2 strokes	Shanshan Feng

Ladies European Tour wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner-up
1	9 Mar 2014	Mission Hills World Ladies Championship (individual)	69-70-62-67=268	−24	5 strokes	Suzann Pettersen

Other wins (3)

• 2013 Mission Hills World Ladies Championship – team (with Kim Ha-neul)
• 2014 Mission Hills World Ladies Championship – team (with Ryu So-yeon)
• 2015 World Ladies Championship – team (with Ryu So-yeon)

Major championships

Wins (5)

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	Margin	Runner-up
2008	U.S. Women's Open	2 shot deficit	−9 (72-69-71-71=283)	4 strokes	Helen Alfredsson
2013	Kraft Nabisco Championship	3 shot lead	−15 (70-67-67-69=273)	4 strokes	Ryu So-Yeon
2013	LPGA Championship	1 shot lead	−5 (72-68-68-75=283)	Playoff1	Catriona Matthew
2013	U.S. Women's Open	4 shot lead	−8 (67-68-71-74=280)	4 strokes	In-Kyung Kim
2014	LPGA Championship	1 shot deficit	−11 (72-66-69-70=277)	Playoff2	Brittany Lincicome

¹Defeated Matthew at the third hole of a sudden-death playoff: Park (4-4-3) and Matthew (4-4-x).
²Defeated Lincicome at the first hole of a sudden-death playoff: Park (4) and Lincicome (5).

Results timeline

Results not in chronological order before 2015.

Tournament	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
ANA Inspiration	DNP	DNP	T62	DNP	9	T56	T10	T29	T26	1
Women's PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	T62	T46	T14	T7	T14	T9	1
U.S. Women's Open	CUT	DNP	DNP	T4	1	T26	T8	T6	T9	1
Women's British Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	T11	CUT	T24	T9	T7	2	T42
The Evian Championship ^										T67

Tournament	2014	2015
ANA Inspiration	38	T11
Women's PGA Championship	1
U.S. Women's Open	T43
Women's British Open	4
The Evian Championship	T10

^ The Evian Championship was added as a major in 2013
DNP = did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
T = tied
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

Summary

Tournament	Wins	2nd	3rd	Top-5	Top-10	Top-25	Events	Cuts made
ANA Inspiration	1	0	0	1	3	4	9	9
Women's PGA Championship	2	0	0	2	4	6	8	8
U.S. Women's Open	2	0	0	3	6	6	9	8
Women's British Open	0	1	0	2	4	6	8	7
The Evian Championship	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	2
Totals	5	1	0	8	18	23	35	35

• Most consecutive cuts made – 27 (2009 Kraft Nabisco – 2015 ANA, current)
• Longest streak of top-10s – 6 (2012 LPGA - 2013 U.S. Open)

LPGA Tour career summary

Year	Tournaments played	Cuts made*	Wins	2nd	3rd	Top 10s	Best finish	Earnings ($)	Money list rank	Scoring average	Scoring rank
2004	2	1	0	0	0	1	T8	n/a	n/a	72.60	n/a
2005	2	1	0	0	0	1	5	n/a	n/a	71.00	n/a
2006	2	2	0	0	0	0	T35	5,406	n/a	73.86	n/a
2007	26	18	0	1	0	2	T2	380,263	37	73.19	72
2008	26	22	1	0	1	7	1	1,138,370	8	71.78	26
2009	23	16	0	0	0	2	T5	271,303	50	72.55	67
2010	19	19	0	1	1	11	2	825,477	11	70.83	9
2011	16	15	0	0	0	3	T6	365,231	31	72.00	27
2012	24	23	2	6	1	12	1	2,287,080	1	70.21	1
2013	23	22	6	0	1	11	1	2,456,619	1	69.87	3
2014	23	22	3	2	4	17	1	2,226,641	2	69.68	2
Totals	186	161	12	10	8	65	1	9,950,984	9	n/a	n/a

• official through 23 November 2014^[10]

* Includes matchplay and other events without a cut.

Futures Tour summary

Year	Tournaments played	Cuts made	Wins	2nd	3rd	Top 10s	Best finish	Earnings ($)	Money list rank	Scoring average	Scoring rank
2006	17	16	0	1	4	11	2	49,079	3	71.12	2

World ranking

Position in Women's World Golf Rankings at the end of each calendar year.

Year	World ranking	Source
2006	321	[11]
2007	70	[12]
2008	21	[13]
2009	42	[14]
2010	12	[15]
2011	23	[16]
2012	4	[17]
2013	1	[18]
2014	1	[19]

Team appearances

Professional

• Lexus Cup (representing Asia team): 2008
• International Crown (representing South Korea): 2014

See also

• List of golfers with most LPGA major championship wins
• List of golfers with most LPGA Tour wins

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Inbee Park.

• Inbee Park at the LPGA Tour official site
• Inbee Park at the Futures Tour official site
• Profile at SeoulSisters.com

Awards
Preceded by Stacy Lewis	World No. 1 Ranked Golfer 15 April 2013 – 1 June 2014	Succeeded by Stacy Lewis
Preceded by Stacy Lewis	World No. 1 Ranked Golfer 27 October 2014 – 1 February 2015	Succeeded by Lydia Ko

Dinah Shore/Kraft Nabisco Championship/ANA Inspiration champions 1983 Amy Alcott 1984 Juli Inkster† 1985 Alice Miller 1986‡ Pat Bradley 1987‡ Betsy King 1988 Amy Alcott 1989‡ Juli Inkster 1990 Betsy King† 1991‡ Amy Alcott 1992 Dottie Mochrie† 1993 Helen Alfredsson 1994 Donna Andrews 1995 Nanci Bowen 1996 Patty Sheehan 1997 Betsy King 1998‡ Pat Hurst 1999 Dottie Pepper 2000‡ Karrie Webb 2001 Annika Sörenstam 2002 Annika Sörenstam 2003 Patricia Meunier-Lebouc 2004 Grace Park 2005 Annika Sörenstam 2006 Karrie Webb† 2007 Morgan Pressel 2008 Lorena Ochoa 2009 Brittany Lincicome 2010 Yani Tseng 2011 Stacy Lewis 2012 Sun-Young Yoo† 2013 Inbee Park 2014 Lexi Thompson 2015 Brittany Lincicome † event won in a playoff; ‡ event won wire-to-wire

Women's PGA Championship champions 1955‡ Beverly Hanson 1956 Marlene Hagge† 1957 Louise Suggs 1958‡ Mickey Wright 1959 Betsy Rawls 1960 Mickey Wright 1961‡ Mickey Wright 1962‡ Judy Kimball 1963 Mickey Wright 1964 Mary Mills 1965 Sandra Haynie 1966 Gloria Ehret 1967‡ Kathy Whitworth 1968‡ Sandra Post† 1969 Betsy Rawls 1970 Shirley Englehorn† 1971 Kathy Whitworth 1972 Kathy Ahern 1973 Mary Mills 1974 Sandra Haynie 1975 Kathy Whitworth 1976 Betty Burfeindt 1977 Hisako Higuchi 1978 Nancy Lopez 1979 Donna Caponi 1980 Sally Little 1981 Donna Caponi 1982‡ Jan Stephenson 1983 Patty Sheehan 1984 Patty Sheehan 1985‡ Nancy Lopez 1986 Pat Bradley 1987 Jane Geddes 1988 Sherri Turner 1989 Nancy Lopez 1990 Beth Daniel 1991 Meg Mallon 1992‡ Betsy King 1993 Patty Sheehan 1994 Laura Davies 1995 Kelly Robbins 1996 Laura Davies 1997 Christa Johnson† 1998‡ Se-ri Pak 1999 Juli Inkster 2000 Juli Inkster† 2001 Karrie Webb 2002 Se-ri Pak 2003 Annika Sörenstam† 2004 Annika Sörenstam 2005 Annika Sörenstam 2006 Se-ri Pak† 2007 Suzann Pettersen 2008 Yani Tseng† 2009 Anna Nordqvist 2010‡ Cristie Kerr 2011‡ Yani Tseng 2012 Shanshan Feng 2013 Inbee Park† 2014 Inbee Park† † event won in a playoff; ‡ event won wire-to-wire

U.S. Women's Open champions 1946 Patty Berg∞ 1947 Betty Jameson 1948 Babe Zaharias 1949 Louise Suggs 1950 Babe Zaharias 1951 Betsy Rawls 1952 Louise Suggs 1953 Betsy Rawls† 1954‡ Babe Zaharias 1955‡ Fay Crocker 1956 Kathy Cornelius† 1957 Betsy Rawls 1958‡ Mickey Wright 1959 Mickey Wright 1960 Betsy Rawls 1961 Mickey Wright 1962 Murle Lindstrom 1963‡ Mary Mills 1964 Mickey Wright† 1965 Carol Mann 1966 Sandra Spuzich 1967‡ Catherine LaCoste# 1968‡ Susie Berning 1969 Donna Caponi 1970‡ Donna Caponi 1971‡ JoAnne Carner 1972 Susie Berning 1973 Susie Berning 1974 Sandra Haynie 1975 Sandra Palmer 1976 JoAnne Carner† 1977 Hollis Stacy 1978 Hollis Stacy 1979 Jerilyn Britz 1980 Amy Alcott 1981 Pat Bradley 1982 Janet Alex 1983 Jan Stephenson 1984 Hollis Stacy 1985 Kathy Baker 1986 Jane Geddes† 1987 Laura Davies† 1988 Liselotte Neumann 1989 Betsy King 1990 Betsy King 1991 Meg Mallon 1992 Patty Sheehan† 1993 Lauri Merten 1994 Patty Sheehan 1995 Annika Sörenstam 1996 Annika Sörenstam 1997 Alison Nicholas 1998 Se-ri Pak† 1999 Juli Inkster 2000 Karrie Webb 2001 Karrie Webb 2002 Juli Inkster 2003 Hilary Lunke† 2004 Meg Mallon 2005 Birdie Kim 2006 Annika Sörenstam† 2007 Cristie Kerr 2008 Inbee Park 2009 Eun-hee Ji 2010 Paula Creamer 2011 So-yeon Ryu† 2012 Na-yeon Choi 2013 Inbee Park 2014 Michelle Wie † event won in a playoff; ‡ winner held lead wire-to-wire; # event won by an amateur; ∞ event won in match-play

Female golfers who have won 2 or more major championships in one year 1946 Louise Suggs (2) 1948 Patty Berg (2) 1949 Louise Suggs (2) 1950 Babe Zaharias (3) 1955 Patty Berg (2) 1957 Patty Berg (2) 1958 Mickey Wright (2) 1959 Betsy Rawls (2) 1961 Mickey Wright (3) 1962 Mickey Wright (2) 1963 Mickey Wright (2) 1967 Kathy Whitworth (2) 1974 Sandra Haynie (2) 1984 Juli Inkster (2) 1986 Pat Bradley (3) 1990 Betsy King (2) 1991 Meg Mallon (2) 1996 Laura Davies (2) 1998 Se-ri Pak (2) 1999 Juli Inkster (2) 2000 Karrie Webb (2) 2001 Karrie Webb (2) 2003 Annika Sörenstam (2) 2005 Annika Sörenstam (2) 2010 Yani Tseng (2) 2011 Yani Tseng (2) 2013 Inbee Park (3)