A day before her 20th birthday, the University of Southern California sophomore sensation posted 10-under-par 134 at Soule Park G.C. in Ojai, Calif., to earn her second U.S. Women's Open start. Park, from Irvine, Calif., missed the cut at Pine Needles two years ago. Park has posted three wins this season for the Trojans, including the Pacific-12 Conference title. Earlier this year, she was one of 12 invitees to an informal Curtis Cup practice session in Florida for the upcoming Match at Sunningdale in England. Park comes from a highly athletic family. Her mom, Hyang-Soo Seo, was the first female from the Republic of Korea to win an Olympic gold medal, achieving the feat in archery during the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. Her father, Kyung-Ho Park, was a gold medalist in the 1986 Asian Games in judo. Her older brother, Sean, played professional baseball in Korea, and her older sister, Victoria, played professionally on the Symetra Tour (now Epson Tour). Victoria was a quarterfinalist in the 2010 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links, losing to eventual winner Emily Tubert. Catherine shares the same instructor (George Pinnell) as 2020 U.S. Women's Amateur and 2021 U.S. Girls' Junior champion Rose Zhang, who is in the 2024 U.S. Women's Open field and turned professional last May after winning a second consecutive NCAA individual title for Stanford. Park finished second behind Zhang. She also was recently selected to play on the U.S. Palmer Cup Team that will travel to Lahinch in the Republic of Ireland later this summer. Before coming to USC, she won the 2019 Se Ri Pak Junior on the American Junior Golf Association circuit and was a two-time AJGA All-American. She also competed in the 2022 U.S. Women's Amateur.
