Published : Jan. 3, 2014 - 19:29
Park In-bee
South Korean LPGA Tour star Park In-bee has been voted the top female golfer for 2013 by American golf journalists.
The Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA) announced on Thursday, U.S. time, that Park received 91 percent of the vote to easily capture the Female Player of the Year honors.
Park won the first three major championships of the LPGA Tour season in 2013 and led women’s golf with six wins overall. The 25-year-old became the first LPGA golfer to win the first three majors of a season since Babe Zaharias in 1950, when there were only three LPGA majors a year.
Park also won the points race of the tour’s Player of the Year award and captured her second straight money title.
She rose to No. 1 in the world rankings in April and ended the 2013 season at the top.
Winners of the two other LPGA majors received the other votes: the Women’s British Open champion Stacy Lewis and the Evian Championship winner Suzann Pettersen.
The last South Korean to be so honored by the GWAA was former No. 1 Shin Ji-yai in 2009.
Park was quoted by The Associated Press as saying that earning recognition from golf writers carried an added significance.
“Last year was a year that I can never forget. I was able to put my name among the greatest players around the world,” she said.
“(Golf writers) are those who know what has just happened last year in every detail. I can almost say that they know me better than I know myself. That’s why this honor is very special and means a lot to me.”
In other awards, the Masters champion Adam Scott edged out Tiger Woods for the Male Player of the Year. Kenny Perry, with two majors on the Champions Tour, was the runaway winner of the Senior Player of the Year.
The GWAA said the winners will be honored at the annual GWAA Dinner on April 9 in Augusta, Georgia, on the eve of the Masters. (Yonhap News)