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Sunny was born March 20, 1983. She grew up
in Seoul, where she attended high school at Sea Hwa Girls
Senior High School. Like a lot of other girls these days,
she also took up golf, and became quite good at it. Apparently
she commuted back and forth between Korea and the States,
because she also excelled as a junior golfer here, earning
AJGA Honorable Mention All American honors after notching
five top tens in just ten starts. She also won the Independent
Insurance Agents Junior Classic in 2001.
After graduation, Sunny attended UNLV, where
she quickly became the most decorated women's golfer in the
school's history. Among her many achievements was an 11th
place finish at the NCAA Championship, a victory at the NCAA
West Regional, top tens in half her events played in 2002,
and a second place finish at the Mountain West Conference
Championship. She has ranked as high as 16th nationally.
She first tried to qualify for an LPGA event
when the tour came to Vegas in 2003 for the Takefuji Classic.
But she lost in a playoff for the final spot and missed her
chance to play in the event.
In 2004, Sunny has been even more impressive
than she had been before. She was named Mountain West Conference
Women's Golfer of the Month for April after winning the BYU
Dixie Classic and leading her team to the largest win in school
history. Several more records were broken that day thanks
to Sunny. She had also won the conference's Player of the
Month award in March.
Sunny did qualify for the 2004 Takefuji, where
she finished tied for 49th. Thus, she decided to leave school
before graduating and turn pro.
Sunny suffered a severe setback to her career following a
car accident in 2004. After surgeries to her ankle and back,
she returned to the game, but found she had lost most of her
power and energy. She struggled for several years on the Futures
Tour before taking an extended break in late 2007.
She was almost ready to give up golf entirely,
but decided to give it one more try. In March, 2008, that
decision paid dividends when she won the opening event on
the Futures Tour season, despite having played almost no golf
for the past eight months. It was her first pro win.
Sunny finished 19th on the Futures Tour money
list, and attended LPGA Q-School. She managed to grab one
of the non-exempt cards by finishing 34th. However, she only
played twice on the LPGA in 2009, missing both cuts. She only
played a few times on the Futures Tour, with her best finish
a tie for 4th.
At the 2009 US Women's Open, she injured her
elbow. She would need surgery in order to continue her career,
but Sunny decided at that time to let her elbow heal naturally.
She thus has retired for the moment from professional golf
tours.
As of 2015, she is working as the general
manager at Bear's Best Cheongna in Incheon, South Korea. She
had the opportunity to play a round of golf with former US
President George W. Bush when he was in town for the President's
Cup.
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