Australian-Korean Park wins Williams title
IN: News | LPGA | Williams Championship (2001) | Wrap | by Bruce Young | 10 Sep 2001
Well an Australian connection here with the win of Gloria Park in Tulsa. Park who is South Korean by birth moved to Australia as a thirteen year and in fact she three time Australian Junior Champion in the mid nineties and was the Australian Stroke Play champion in 1997. She turned pro in 1998 won a couple of events in Asia, then got her card at the 1999 Tour school where she finished 13th.
Her first season last year was a tough one and a huge learning curve for her. In 25 starts her best finish was 12th but she has shown this year that things are getting better with a ninth at the Canadian Open and now this very impressive win made even more so by her last round 64.
She has been a non-exempt player this season but has managed to get starts in fact this was her 25th this year. Her last round 64 included a double bogey at the tenth so she showed remarkable calm to come back with four further birdies to seal the deal.
Donna Andrews was second after taking a four shot lead over Rachel Teske and five over Park into the final round. Andrews second round 62 may well have been better but for a self imposed penalty for double hitting a three-foot putt. Although no one else could tell she had done so she called the one shot penalty on herself and that in turn proved to be the difference. Rachel Teske was third and a nice cheque for $US67,000, Shani Waugh 27th, Karrie Webb 30th, Mardi Lunn 35th, Tamie Durdin 41st, with Fiona Pike and Karen Pearce 47th.
Sectional qualifying for the USLPGA Tour was held this past week in California and there were to be 35 spots available through to the final stage of qualifying in mid October.
Three Australians (Corinne Dibnah, Joanne Mills and Lorraine Lambert and one New Zealander (Lynette Brooky) get a spot in the finals.
