Park is a standout with grit … and grace
SOUTH HADLEY -- Ji-Eun Park of Korea was given "Grace'' by her father upon her youthful arrival in Hawaii, a new name to go with her new life in a new land. But the grace? It was a gift already in place, along with the strength and the power and the athletic prowess with which she had been blessed. with.
Golf, you see, has never been a mystery to Grace Park.
"The game came naturally to me,'' she said yesterday as she prepared for today's start of the 59th US Women's Open at The Orchards Golf Club. "When I was younger, I was a good athlete. I skated, I skied. Swimming. Whatever sport I played, I always did well. Golf was one of them.''
That golf eventually became the sport of choice for the young Korean girl was the wish of her father, Jinae, and mother, Soonam. "They saw more potential in golf,'' said Grace Park.
Did they see the potential as being as unlimited, as so many others now see it?
Park, 25 and riding a wave of success, smiled at the question. At an age when many young women here are just getting established in the work force, she is already in her fifth full year on the LPGA Tour, with more than $2 million earned and five career victories, including a major. Throw in lucrative endorsement deals with
She is there, most definitely, because of her priceless combination of finesse and power. At 5 feet 6 inches, Park has a big, wide, free-wheeling swing that plays well in a game dominated by young, fearless power. She ranks in the top five in driving distance, but her ascension to the top of the women's game has been the result of that uncanny quiniela: fire and precision. Whereas many long hitters are errant, Park in 2003 led the LPGA Tour in hitting greens in regulation.
But athletic supremacy is only one side of stardom for today's players. What clinches the marketability of Park is the flip side -- the striking beauty, the tall and proud walk, the dazzling smile.
If only people knew that there was a nonchalance about her that is as soothing as breezes off Nantucket Sound on a blistering summer day.
"All the stardom? I just deal with it as it comes," said Park, who concedes that people perhaps misjudge her. "Because I'm more laid-back than the average golf professional, on a normal day you don't know whether I'm shooting 6 over or 6 under. People will look at me and wonder, `Are you having fun?' Well, I wouldn't be doing this if I wasn't having fun. I wouldn't have gotten here without work. You can only have a certain amount of talent."
It's just that as Park prepares to take on the challenge of the US Women's Open, her "certain amount" is many levels higher than most of her peers. . . .
Born in Korea, raised there and in the United States, groomed to be a golfer, Park is a fascinating mixture of cultures and experiences. There is no denying that she has been "American-ized," and, in fact, that was the point of her being sent to live in this country.
"[My parents] wanted me to become more Westernized, more American," said Park, who was sent to live with an aunt in Hawaii when she was 12. Two years later, to help foster her blossoming golf talents, she was moved in with a family in Phoenix, where she could play at the highest competitive junior level 12 months a year.
"I hated living with another family," she said. "They weren't my parents and they were trying to be my parents. It just didn't work."
Six months into the experiment, Soonam and Jinae came up with another plan. They got an apartment in Phoenix, where they took turns living for weeks at a time so their daughter could stay in the area. It was an effective plan and one in which the young phenom flourished. For the remainder of her junior days, there was an endless list of championships.
At Arizona State University, the success continued in typical Park fashion -- impeccable.
She was NCAA Player of the Year as a freshman, a season during which the Sun Devils won the national title. That she followed that up in the summer of 1998 with a triumph in the US Women's Amateur speaks volumes for her remarkable talent and the ease with which she accomplished it all.
But therein percolates a quandry: She is so gifted, there is the assumption that Park does it all without breaking a sweat, that it's all natural.
"Nothing could be more wrong," said Dave Brooker, Park's caddie. "On most nights, when all the girls are going out for dinner, she'll do room service and she'll practice putting in her room. She works hard."
Under the watchful eye of her instructor, CBS analyst Peter Kostis, Park reportedly will spend hours and hours working on her game back in Phoenix. The fluid swing has always been there, but they have concentrated in recent years on tightening things, putting a halt to loose shots, zoning in the distance control, and learning all the shots that a great short game needs.
Some would be satisfied by the results. After all, she has won at least one tournament in each of her first five years on Tour and would probably rank second or third on anyone's list of the LPGA Tour's best players. But that means she's behind Sorenstam, so it means she isn't working as hard as she should be.
This is where Park is candid and refreshing, up front about her wish to be No. 1 in the game. She cannot match Sorenstam's resume, but can she match Sorenstam's talent?
"I think so," said Park. "I have what it takes to be No. 1. I just have to be more committed to this game. I have the talent. I just need to work harder."
Told that people have raved about her work ethic as it is, Park shook her head. "Everybody talks about how hard [Sorenstam] works. That's how she became No. 1," said Park. "I think about that constantly. I just don't act on it yet. I'm not ready. I'm not immature, but I could be more mature. I make a list of things to do. Say, 10 things. I get five things done. I know that's a lot because a lot of people don't get halfway. But if I can get seven or eight of those things done, it's that much better." . . .
Brooker has come full circle when it comes to Park, because there was a time when he figured he'd never work for such a player.
"After he had been on the bag for a while, he said to me, `You know when was the first time I ever saw you?' He said it was Old Waverly [in Mississippi, the 1999 US Women's Open] and he said, `You were so cocky.'
"That's how he and all the other people thought of me. I guess I look mean when I'm not smiling. Well, being an amateur, I didn't know too many players out here, so I kept to myself."
Brooker laughs. His first impression was way off base.
"I said, `Hi' to her and she ignored me. Back then, she used to wear these head phones. But she's great to work for."
She is also seen as a priceless liaison between the growing number of young Koreans on the LPGA Tour and officials who run the business affairs in a country that is foreign to those players. Park didn't have to take on the role, but she embraced it for one simple reason: She is proud of her heritage.
"The older I get, the more Korean I'm becoming," she said. "I was so American in high school and college, and I almost wanted to throw that Korean culture aside. But since becoming a professional, I eat more Korean food than I ever did. I listen to Korean music only. I watch Korean TV all the time.
"My parents? They're kind of glad that I still respect my own culture. They don't say it, but I can tell they like that."
Park returns to Korea more than she did in the past, though she's not as well-known there as Se Ri Pak or Mi Hyun Kim. "I try to stay private," said Park. "I don't announce myself going to Korea. I don't do public appearances while I'm there."
It's her break from the grind that is her life when golf consumes her morning, noon, and night from March to mid-November. That is when she's on public display as a world-class golfer and a player with tremendous marketability. There is, after all, the general feeling that Park is saturated in sex appeal.
She laughed.
"For me, I don't believe in the sex symbol stuff, because I don't see myself that way. But I do believe in saying that appearance does count. I want to look good. When you look good, you feel better. When you take care of yourself, you feel better. When others compliment you on it, it's even better.
"I like to present myself well."
Few would argue that Park has succeeded, both on and off the course. Her major triumph at the Kraft Nabisco Championship in March brought her greater renown. The public proclamation that she would like to supplant Sorenstam as the game's best player? It has endeared her to fans who love to root for underdogs who embrace a serious challenge.
"I'm still learning," said Park. "Still finding out about myself."
Which makes us wonder, why did Jinae choose the name "Grace"?
"He picked it out of the air," said his daughter. "He loved Grace Kelly, the actress."
Truly, the elegance and the style fit. 