Every little girl golfer wants to win a major championship. Some dream of U.S. Women’s Open titles, pretending every three-footer on the practice putting green is for victory over Annika Sorenstam or Lorena Ochoa or – in today’s modern era – Nelly Korda.
Others fantasize about conquering Carnoustie or standing on the Swilcan Bridge at the Old Course, joining the likes of Dame Laura Davies and Karrie Webb as AIG Women’s Open champions.
But for Grace Park, she dreamt of winning The Chevron Championship.
Back in her heyday, the event was known as the Kraft Nabisco Championship and was held annually at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Growing up, Park played in junior events at the venue and was even invited to compete in the major championship as an amateur, teeing it up alongside the LPGA Tour’s best in 1995, 1997 and 1998. She made the cut in ’98 and ultimately finished 23rd before joining the Tour in 1999.
While she had some success in her early years on the LPGA Tour, winning once a season from 2000 to 2003, Park couldn’t help but want a major title of her own after watching her Korean counterpart Se Ri Pak win four of them from 1998 to 2002, rapidly establishing a culture of excellence for women’s golf in the Republic of Korea.
And Park finally got that opportunity in 2004 at the place that meant so much to her golf career – Mission Hills.
Through three rounds, Park was at the top of the leaderboard, closely pursued by the likes of Webb, Cristie Kerr and a promising amateur player named Michelle Wie West, a position that had her feeling plenty of pressure heading into the final round.
“I usually sleep well at night and keep the same routine, but I just couldn’t sleep the night before the final round,” Park recalled. “I barely slept that night, and I was warming up the morning of the final round, and I couldn’t warm up because I was so nervous. I was just very stiff.”
She bogeyed the third hole early to drop back to 7-under, a near-immediate mistake that might have derailed another player’s focus with so much on the line, but Park was undeterred. Staying patient, she rattled off four consecutive birdies on holes 9, 10, 11 and 12 to move to 11-under, a performance that steadied her nerves coming down the stretch with a teenaged Aree Song in hot pursuit playing alongside her.
But Song couldn’t seem to get anything to stick as she tried to chase down Park, and she was two shots behind Park when the pair came to the famous par-5 18th hole at Mission Hills Country Club.
Needing something special with her back against the wall, Song elected to go with the gutsy play, successfully finding the green in two and setting up an eagle opportunity that would force a playoff with Park if she parred.
Despite Song’s heroics and an unlikely eagle try threatening her advantage, Park took a veteran’s approach, still thinking her two-shot lead was more than safe.
“If you’ve watched the tournament, you know the 18th hole (at Mission Hills) is an island green,” explained Park. “The left to right of the green is wide, but the front to back is very narrow, so if you don’t land it accurately, it could go past the back, and there’s water all around the green, too.
“Aree was able to get on the green in two with her hybrid, and the fans were going nuts. I was about 15 meters in front of her, and I could get to the green in two, but I was (in between two clubs), so I thought for a while and decided to play it safe and lay up since I had a two-shot lead. So, I hit a pitching wedge about 100 meters and hit a sand wedge for my third.”
Walking up to the 18th green, Park still had no fear of losing, high-fiving fans and soaking in the moment that she had so long yearned for as a professional golfer.
But it wasn’t over yet. Not by a long shot.
Quite a way away from the hole, Song gave her eagle putt a good whack, wanting to at least give herself a chance of doing the improbable and hoping to put some pressure on Park by making birdie to get to 9-under total. But her ball started curling, riding the fault line of the break and trundling towards the center of the hole, looking better and better as it lost speed.
When the first dimples touched the lip of the cup, and the ball tumbled over the edge, the crowd erupted, and Song roared, triumphantly first pumping her way across the green and hoping like crazy the moment would knock Park back on her heels.
“I was looking at my line, and I saw the ball roll, and I could see the line. It was a perfect putt and just got sucked into the hole,” said Park. “The whole place was going wild. Aree was celebrating, and I thought I might break down. My whole body got stiff. I’d been playing competitive golf since I was in the fifth grade for about 25 years, and I’ve never been more nervous in my life. My legs and arms were shaking so much, I couldn’t start my stroke.”
You could see the nerves radiating off Park as she stepped over her birdie putt. Six feet stood between her and history.
But as anxious as she was, her stroke was confident, and when the ball hit the center of the hole, you could see and feel Park’s relief. She had finally done it. She won The Chevron Championship.
“At the time, I was more relieved than excited about the win because Aree made an unbelievable putt,” said Park. “For a few minutes, it was just so nerve-wracking. I had to make the putt to win.”
And with that win came the famous leap into Poppie’s Pond, a moment that some players spend their careers thinking about, contemplating just how they’d enter the brackish water, either with flair or precision. But Park, never thinking she’d actually get the opportunity to jump, wasn’t so sure of what she wanted to do in front of such a huge crowd.
“After the ceremony, my caddie and I (knew) we had to jump, and I was pretty shy,” Park remembered. “You could see the fans directly in front of you. Everyone was cheering, and it was just so embarrassing. I took off my visor and shoes and ran as hard as I could to jump. A lot of people came to know me with that leap, that jump, that win.”
And rightfully so. With her victory at The Chevron Championship, Park became just the second LPGA Tour member from the Republic of Korea to win a major championship alongside Se Ri Pak and was the first Korean winner in the event’s history, helping to jumpstart a longstanding tradition of Korean excellence on the LPGA Tour that has flourished in the past 20 years.
Park stepped away from the LPGA Tour in 2012, and now two decades on from her crowning achievement, she’s still as grateful as ever that she got to make the jump in 2004, to put on the white robe and hoist the Dinah Shore Trophy. It’s the major that made her career, that forever shaped the trajectory of her life in golf, and is a moment that Park will hold onto for the rest of her days.
“I was so happy and thankful to win,” said Park. “The win was a turning point in my life. I gained a lot of confidence, and it’s an unforgettable moment. It happened 20 years ago, but I remember it like yesterday. It’s forever engraved in my head and will be with me for the rest of my life.”
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