HEE YOUNG PARK

In 2007, she had a decent season on the KLPGA, although it was her weakest season since joining the tour. She was not able to collect a win all year, although she did come up with three runner up finishes. Perhaps the most painful of these came at the second KB Star Tour event. She had a two stroke lead at one point in the final round, when her caddie noticed that her playing partner, Eun Hee Ji, had left one of her clubs by the green. Her caddie picked it up and put it into Hee Young's bag. A few holes later, Ji noticed the club was missing and spotted it in Park's bag. She called a two stroke penalty on Park for having too many clubs in her bag. As it turned out, Ji and Park wound up in a playoff, which Ji won; but if it had not been for the penalty, which Ji called on Park, Park would have been the victor. Sometimes it doesn't pay to do someone a favor!

Park finished in the top five at her LPGA Q-School sectional that Fall, then played brilliantly in the finals, eventually finishing third to earn her exempt card for 2008. She was the only exempt Korean rookie on tour that year.

In 2008, Hee Young had a pretty decent campaign, although she was overshadowed by her fellow KLPGA refugee Na Yeon Choi. Still, she played quite well, easily maintaining her exempt status, and notching her career best Major finish at the British Open besides. She also signed a multi-year sponsorship deal with Hana Bank and Elord in 2008.

Hee Young's second year on tour was significantly better than her first. She made more top tens (6), earned over $600,000 for the year, and finished 20th on the money list. Among the highlights was her 2nd place finish in Thailand. That event almost turned out very differently: she was deathly ill in round one, shot a 79, and ended up in the hospital. The next day, however, she shot a 64, her best ever score, and ended the week behind only world number one Lorena Ochoa.

Park had a tie for second in Japan as well, and a tie for fifth at the season ending Tour Championship. She also had her two best Major finishes, a tie for 9th at the US Women's Open and a tie for 11th at the Ricoh British Open. She still had a tendency to shoot a great round followed by a not so good one, but at least her overall results were getting better and better.

At the end of the year, her chief sponsor Hana Bank published a golf lesson book featuring her and In Kyung Kim. It was sold in stores in Korea and given away to valued customers of the bank.

In 2010, Park was not quite as impressive as she had been the previous year, although she still had several highlights. She had 6 top tens in total, with her best finish being a tie for 4th at the State Farm Classic. That event saw her shoot a final round 63, her best ever score, to lose to Cristie Kerr by 2 shots. In the end, she finished 34th on the money list, easily maintaining category 1 status for 2011.

Meanwhile, Hee Young had another thrill in 2010: her younger sister Choo Young qualified for the KLPGA and joined the tour as a rookie. Hee Young even got to watch Choo Young play in one event, cheering her on from the sidelights. If she ever makes it to the LPGA, they will be the first Korean sisters to play on tour since the Song sisters, Aree and Naree (who were half Korean, half Thai).

Hee Young finished the year by attending JLPGA Qualifying School. She ended up winning medalist honors with an 11 under par total, 2 shots ahead of second place Shanshan Feng of China. So she has full membership on both the LPGA and JLPGA for 2011, and will presumably split her time between those two tours.

Hee Young had a mediocre start to her 2011 season. She did not have a top 30 finish until late June when she finished 14th at the LPGA Championship. But she caught fire in the second half of the year. In August, she was tied for the lead on the final hole of the Safeway Classic, and just needed a birdie to win or par to enter a playoff. But she made bogey to finish third, a sad end to her best chance yet to win her first LPGA event. But there was an upside: her finish qualified her for the season ending tour championship.

The next week, she finished tied for 12th at the Canadian Women's Open, and notched two more top 12 finishes in the coming weeks. Then came the CME Group Titleholders, the tour championship that her Safeway finish had qualified her for. She played great golf, finishing her third round with several impressive birdies to move into the lead. On the final day, she kept her head, despite having several of the top players in the world breathing down her neck. It all came down to a chip shot on the 18th hole. Had she made bogey there, she may have lost. But this time she hit a fantastic up and down, and at last, after four years on tour, she collected her first LPGA trophy!! The win netted her $500,000, one of the biggest checks ever earned by a Korean golfer, and moved her to 12th on the money list, by far her best finish.

Hee Young didn't win in 2012, but she still had a pretty decent season. She notched five top tens on the year and made more than $400,000, finishing 34th on the money list. Among her best results were a tie for 7th at the KEB Hana Bank Championship in Korea, and a 5th at the RR Donnelly.

2013 was the best year for the Rocket yet. She had two great highlights. She collected her second career win at the Manulife Financial LPGA Classic in July. This was a very low scoring event, and Park was up for the challenge. She shot a 61, her all time best, in round 3. In round 4, she made a heap of birdies at the end of the round to force a playoff with Angela Stanford after both went 26 under par total (an all time low score on the LPGA for the Korean golfers). The playoff took three holes; Park made three more birdies and the trophy was hers.

Hee Young's other great event came shortly thereafter at the Women's British Open. Earlier in the year, Hee Young finished 7th at the Nabisco for her best ever Major finish. She was never in contention there, but at St. Andrews in August, she was right in the hunt until the end. Her playing partner Stacy Lewis made two birdies on the final two holes to eliminate Hee Young, but she still finished tied for second with old rival Na Yeon Choi, by far her best Major result to date.

Hee Young had two more top four finishes and wound up 10th on the tour money list with close to $850,000 earned. It was her first top ten on the money list. She ended the year 18th in the Rolex rankings.

Hee Young's 2014 was not as strong as her two previous years had been. She made around $447,000 and finished 40th on the money list. Her best finish came at the last event of the year, the CME Group Titleholders (a tie for 7th). HYP does have one thing to look forward to next year: her younger sister successfully qualified for the LPGA at Q-School, so the two of them will both have full status on tour in 2015.

2015 was a lesser season for Hee Young. She made $347,253, good for 52nd on the money list, and had three top tens. She missed the cut at all five Majors. Her best result came at the North Texas Shootout, where she finished tied for 2nd behind Inbee Park.

Hee Young had a somewhat better season in 2016. She did not win, but she had 4 top tens. Her best finish came at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship at Sahalee. She worked her way into contention on the weekend and finished tied for 4th. She also had a couple of fifth place finishes in two different LPGA events in Asia: the Honda in Thailand and the Fubon in Taiwan. Hee Young made $527,393 and finished 34th on the tour money list.

Hee Young also played at the ING Champions team event. Representing the LPGA, she teamed with Chella Choi to beat the KLPGA's Seung Hyun Lee and Seon Woo Bae 3 & 2, but lost when teamed with Hyo Joo Kim to Hee Won Jung and Jung Min Lee 1 up. In singles, she lost 1 up to Ji Hyun Kim 2.

Hee Young really struggled in 2017. At one point, she missed eight straight cuts. She only had one top ten, a third place, late in the season at the McKayson event in New Zealand. She wound up finishing 91st on the money list, which dropped her to category 11 for 2018. She made just $131,000 for the year.

Hee Young had a similar season in 2018. She managed to finish 80th on the money list with $197,000 earned; she made just enough money to secure category 1 status for 2019. She had no top tens in 2018, but did manage a few top 20s.

The biggest news for Hee Young in 2018 was that she got married! She continued to play on the LPGA in 2019, however. That season was definitely one of her weaker ones. She made a tad over $100,000, which put her 110th on the money list. She went back to Q-Series and finished second, which elevated her to full status for 2020. She had a 12th and a 13th as her best results in 2019.

In 2020, the whole world was rocked by the Covid-19 pandemic. The LPGA and KLPGA tours canceled and postponed many tournaments. Hee Young got her season out to a great start. Her second event of the year was the Vic Open in Australia. Park played steady golf all week, and when teen KLPGA star Ayean Cho stumbled on Sunday, Rocket took advantage. She zoomed into a playoff with another KLPGAer, Hye Jin Choi, and LPGA mainstay So Yeon Ryu. Three holes later, Hee Young had the win, the third of her career. At age 32 and about nine months, she is one of the oldest Koreans to ever claim an LPGA win.

The rest of the year was not nearly as strong for Hee Young, although her win lifted her tour status to category 4. Her next best finish was a tie for 15th late in the year at the Pelican Women's Championship. She earned a little more than $224,000 for the year, which put her 53rd on the LPGA money list.

In 2021, Hee Young earned nearly $179,000 and finished 87th on the money list, not quite enough to advance her status from category 4. Her best result was an 11th place at the Dow Great Lakes team event.

Hee Young played for a couple of months early in 2022, then announced that she was pregnant with her first child! Her final event of the year came in May. She gave birth to her son early in 2023 and took most of 2023 off for maternity leave.

After her younger sister scored her first ever KLPGA win in the Fall, Hee Young returned to action for a few tournaments and did pretty well. At the KLPGA's final Major, the Hite Cup, she finished tied for 27th. At the next event, the Land Trust, she and her sister both got into contention (!) before Hee Young faded to a tie for 16th. She then played the LPGA's BMW Championship and finished tied for 16th there as well. Considering she hadn't played in over a year, those were three pretty good results!

Her status remains category 3 for 2024 but it is not known if and when she will return to action.