Park In Clubhouse In Weather-Marred Round

Southern Pines, N.C. – Five years ago In-Bee Park was a shy, introverted 14-year-old talent who could barely belt out a sentence in English. After winning the 2002 U.S. Girls’ Junior at Echo Lake Country Club, Park read a prepared speech from then-swing coach Charlie Woo during the prize ceremony that was so soft, the small crowd gathered around the podium hardly heard the words.

Fast forward to 2007. Park is almost 19 and all grown up. Her English has improved exponentially, and apparently, so has her golf game. Granted, Park enjoyed a successful junior career, joining Hollis Stacy as the only players to reach the Girls’ Junior final match three times, but obviously her game has blossomed right along with her language skills.

In-Bee Park misses a birdie putt on No. 13 Friday in the second round. (Fred Vuich/USGA)

While the LPGA Tour player from Korea has struggled in her rookie season – she’s made only six of 13 cuts with a T-45 in Corning, N.Y., being her best finish – everything seems to have come together this week at the U.S. Women’s Open.

Fighting through a couple of weather delays, including 3-hour, 35-minute suspension on Thursday that forced her back to complete round one on Friday morning, Park managed to shoot a 2-over-par 73 at Pine Needles Lodge and Resort to take the clubhouse lead at even-par 142 midway through the second round.

First-round leader, 18-year-old Angela Park (68), a good friend of In-Bee’s but not a long-distance relative, had an afternoon starting time and likely was not going to finish her second round on Friday. Six other players who shot 70 on Thursday, including 2004 U.S. Girls’ Junior champion Julieta Granada of Paraguay, also had late-afternoon times.

In-Bee stood alone at 142, but Japan’s Shiho Oyama and Korea’s Jee Young Lee were one over par through 16 holes when a second weather situation suspended play at 3:18 p.m. The group of players at 1-over 143 included 2000 USA Curtis Cupper Angela Stanford (72-71) of Saginaw, Texas, and 2005 Women’s British Open winner Jeong Jang (72-71) of Korea.

In-Bee Park started Friday by playing holes 17 and 18 in par to complete a 2-under 69 before turning around and beginning her second round from the 10th tee at 9:15 a.m. She endured one small 29-minute delay before getting to the scoring trailer behind the ninth hole. She overcame some balky ball-striking – 8 of 14 fairways and 8 of 18 greens – to register 27 putts on the convex-shaped greens.

"My game around the greens were great today," said In-Bee Park, who now lives near Las Vegas in Henderson, Nev. "I put it within a foot, two foot, three foot and just tapped in for pars. And I think that’s really good."

What was really good was In-Bee Park’s ascension through the junior ranks. Originally, her family moved from Korea to Eustis, Fla., through the help of Woo, who was her original instructor in the U.S. She won the Girls’ Junior in her first attempt, beating Jennifer Tangthaiboontana, 4 and 3, in the final. The next year at Brooklawn C.C. in Fairfield, Conn., Park was on her way to another Girls’ Junior title, but blew a 5-up lead over the last 10 holes and lost to fellow Korean Sukjin-Lee Wuesthoff. And in 2005, In-Bee Park again reached the final, only to lose to another Korean and now current LPGA Tour player In-Kyung Kim.

Success just didn’t happen in junior events. At the 2003 U.S. Women’s Amateur, In-Bee Park advanced to the semifinals before losing to eventual winner Virada Nirapathpongporn of Thailand, 3 and 1. A year later, she rallied to eliminate Michelle Wie in the second round before being eliminated by Morgan Pressel in the round of 16, 3 and 2.

In-Bee Park, whose name translates to "Good Queen," was set to attend college at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas but changed her mind at the last minute and decided to play the Duramed Futures Tour, where she finished third on the money list ($49,079 in 17 events), despite no wins to automatically get a 2007 LPGA Tour card. It was on the Futures Tour that she befriended Angela Park and the two play a lot of practice rounds together, often competing for dinner checks.

It was Angela Park’s morning 68 on Thursday that motivated In-Bee Park to play well in the afternoon.

"Of course, that gave me a lot of motivation," said In-Bee Park of Angela Park’s strong start. "That really got me going yesterday. I thought if she could play that good out here, then I could play good out here, too. It gave me a lot of confidenc."

The only difference is Angela Park has yet to miss a cut in 14 LPGA Tour events this year, while In-Bee Park seems to be going through the growing pains most first-year players endure. Her earnings through 13 events are $22,357 compared to more than $340,000 for Angela Park.

"I really had a hard time starting off the season," said In-Bee Park. "I think I’m getting used to the tour. And I just have to be patient out there. I’m not just going to do this for one year and quit."

Hardly. The words ‘give up’ and ‘quit’ aren’t generally part of the Korean players’ vernacular. Not with the Women’s Open leaderboard littered with Asian players.

At least In-Bee Park can now sit back and relax. She’s got 36 holes in the books and that’s awfully nice considering the weather forecast for the next 24 hours.

"I’m definitely going to get some sleep and a lot of rest," said In-Bee Park, "because I played a lot of golf the last two days and it’s going to be a lot tougher the next two days."

David Shefter is a USGA staff writer. E-mail him with questions or comments at dshefter@usga.org.