South Korean sensation Park Sung-Hyun became the first LPGA Tour rookie to be crowned world No: 1 on the 7th of November after a season in which she also won her first major.
The 24 year old is the fourth South Korean world No:1 since the introduction of the rankings were introduced in 2006, joining Shin Ji-Yai, Park In-Bee and Ryu So-Yeon.
“I was very surprised and amazed by what I’ve achieved,” Park told LPGA.com in Hainan Island, where she will play in this week’s Blue Bay LPGA tournament.
Exactly a year after holding the press conference, Park reaches No: 1.
At the conference Park announced that she would take up membership on the LPGA Tour, after a season in which she won seven times on the Korean LPGA Tour, contended in three major championships and had risen to world number 10.
Her incredible form carried through to the LPGA Tour this year with two wins to date including a first major at the US Women’s Open, nine top-10 finishes and top-20 finishes at three other majors.
Not only that, the super-consistent Park has never missed a cut in her 29 career LPGA Tour starts.
She walked away with the LPGA’s Rookie of the Year honors and with two tournaments to go, Park is ranked 2nd in the Player of the Year standings.
Only Ryu, who is sitting out this week, is ahead of Park who is seeking to become just the second player in history after Nancy Lopez in 1978 to earn both rookie and player of the season honours in the same year.
Park had originally declared she wanted to become number one within three years of moving full-time to the LPGA Tour.
“I’ve accomplished my goal a lot faster than I’d planned, and it does put some pressure on my shoulders,” Park said.
“But I am also determined to keep trying harder and harder. I think I was able to get this far this fast because I continued to push myself without settling for less.”
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