Inbee Park ends the year in top spot

The top performer in women’s golf for 2014 according to the Rolex Rankings, is Inbee Park. Despite a mid-year slump, Park fought back to maintain her top spot on the leader board for the last 8 weeks.

This South Korean professional golfer participates in the LPGA of Japan Tour and the LPGA Tour.

An Early Starter
Born in Seoul, Park began playing golf at the age of 10 and relocated to the USA after her 12th birthday to pursue her dream of a career in golf. Here she met with numerous successes including winning nine events on the AJGA (American Junior Golf Association circuit) and claiming the Rolex Junior All-American title five times. Between 2004 and 2006, Park achieved two top-10 finishes in the Kraft Nabisco Championship.

She graduated from Bishop German High School in Las Vegas in 2006 and appealed for permission to participate in the LPGA as a 17-year old. When this was denied Park enrolled at the University of Nevada but dropped out to turn pro and play on the Duramed Futures Tour in late January. On this tour she notched up 11 top ten finishes and ended third in the earnings stakes to gain exempt status on the LPGA for the 2007 season.

Since then she has gone from strength to strength on the tour, tying for fourth at the US Women’s Open and second at the Safeway Classic during her rookie year, finishing 37th in the rookie of the year rankings.

At 19 she was the youngest player to win the US Women’s Open during 2008. A few good finishes between 2009 and 2011 saw her ranked 31 on the official money list and 27th on scoring average at the end of 2011.

Frequent Finisher
During 2012, Park again surged back to claim two wins on the LPGA Tour and finished in the top three in 10 of the 23 tournaments she entered that year.

The next year saw her claim titles in 3 consecutive major events, and make her way to the top of the ladies rankings, where she stayed from 15 April 2013 to 1 June 2014, returning to the top spot in October 2014.

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