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 It just so happens Kristen Park had to balance those activities with her ascent to the top of the junior golf world. The Buena Park resident added a significant achievement to her resumé when she won the U.S. Girls' Junior Championship in late July, highlighting a whirlwind five-week stretch of strong showings at prestigious tournaments. "I didn't really expect this summer to be this great. I just wanted more experience and to build more for future years," Park said. "I took a really big jump." Thanks to that stellar play, which included a tie for second at the Rolex Tournament of Champions and a tie for third at the McDonald's Betsy Rawls Girls Championship, Park was named the No. 1- ranked junior golfer in the country, according to the AJGA/Polo Rankings. When considering the context of her victory at the U.S. Girls' Junior, it could easily be viewed as a surprise. Park didn't take up golf until she was 10 and was a novice at match play. "I barely knew any of the rules. My coach [George Pinnell] had to tell me the rules and tips for match play over the phone," she said. After finishing fourth in the stroke-play portion of the event, Park proved she belonged in the title discussion. A 4-and-3 victory in the first round gave her a crash course in the tenets of match play, which served her well when she needed 21 holes to defeat Brittany Altomare the next day. "That was probably the scariest match of the tournament," Park recalled. "After I won, I just felt this momentum in me." Park rode that momentum into the finals, where she beat Ayaka Kaneko of Hawaii, 4-and-3, for the title. After becoming the fourth-youngest winner to hoist the U.S. Girls' Junior trophy, Park continued to shine at the U.S. Women's Amateur at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Ind. She was near the top of the leaderboard with a 69 in the first round but didn't make match play after an 83 in the second round. Pinnell, the head professional at the George Pinnell Golf Academy in Rowland Heights and Park's instructor, understood the scoring discrepancy. "She's only 14, and five weeks of tough competition like that caught up with her," he said. "We planned her schedule back in early June, and we knew it was going to be hard." Despite Park's memorable summer on the golf course, she isn't immune to the challenges of life as a freshman at Sunny Hills High School. "I'm pretty nervous about it. I'm the only one from my junior high going to that school," she said. Even before Park starts classes, she knows she has to overcome a unique hurdle - catch up on homework while competing for the U.S. Junior Solheim Cup team in Sweden in September. But Pinnell knows his star pupil will take the challenge in stride. "She's a talented young girl," he said. "She's very poised. She's probably the best I've ever seen at her age." SG |
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