Park enjoys newfound success

Sometimes, being a professional golfer isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, because fame comes with responsibilities. There are media interviews to do, corporate commitments to make, fans to greet and places to visit.

But Park Hee-young, who recently earned her maiden win on the LPGA Tour, is enjoying her newfound fame ― no matter how difficult it can get.

“Playing golf is obviously hard, but it’s also not easy to present myself in public in interviews,” Park told Yonhap. “With golf, I can just keep my head down and play my game. But in interviews, I have to think long and hard about what I am about to say.”

Park is trying to enjoy her exposure, though, because it’s been a long time coming. Park grabbed the LPGA Tour’s season-ending CME Group Titleholders in Orlando last month, edging Sandra Gal and Paula Creamer by two strokes. It was Park’s first career win in 96th career LPGA start, spanning four seasons.

The 24-year-old had already been a solid golfer. After winning the Korean LPGA Tour’s Rookie of the Year award in 2005, she jumped to the LPGA, posting four top-10 finishes as a rookie in 2008. She finished runner-up in two events in 2009 and had a career-high six top-10s in 2010.

Park has never been short on talent. In 2005, in a local magazine survey of the top-50 KLPGA money winners, Park was voted as having the best swing, over the likes of U.S. LPGA winners such as Grace Park and Kim Joo-mi.

But given the high expectations placed upon South Korean golfers, the most dominant group of non-Americans in the LPGA, not claiming a win over a four-year stretch is considered an underachievement.

Park said she was hurt by the public’s indifference and misunderstanding over her first three seasons.

“I was always doing my best, but I got the sense that people only thought of me as just another golfer,” she said. “Some even questioned my desire to win and they wondered if I wasn’t too content with simply being on the tour.”

During Park’s first three seasons from 2008 to 2010, her fellow Korean golfers won a combined 29 LPGA events. Many of the winners were about Park’s age, golfers whom Park felt she could easily catch.

It was only later that Park learned that wins would not be simply handed to her.

“I saw my friends win and I felt I could just go play and win as they did, too,” Park said. “But after a couple of years, I realized that I needed something extra, something that separated me from the rest of the competition, to win on this tour.”

Park said she started taking her training more seriously. Off the field, she began working on her strength and flexibility to bring more balance to her swing and to add more distance. On the field, Park paid more attention to her short game.

“Everything just came together nicely,” she said. “Once I started working harder, I grew stronger and I was able to stay focused until the end of the season.” 

(Yonhap News)