Park becomes the 11th player from the Republic of Korea to win the honor

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Oct. 18, 2017 - The LPGA Tour today announced that 24-year-old Sung Hyun Park, of the Republic of Korea, has mathematically clinched the 2017 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year award with five events remaining on the season’s schedule.

Park, who won the 2017 U.S. Women’s Open Championship for her first LPGA and major victory, has a 798-point lead over Angel Yin which would mark the third-largest margin of victory in the history of the award, passing 2016 winner In Gee Chun (778 points) and trailing only Karrie Webb over Mayumi Hirase in 1996 (1030 points) and Se Ri Pak over Janice Moodie in 1999 (929 points).

“I am honored to receive this award which was one of my goals from the beginning of the season,” Park said. “This is really special because you only get one chance in a lifetime. Taking this opportunity, I want to be a better player.”

In July, Park rallied from three strokes behind after three rounds to pull off a victory at the U.S. Women’s Open, becoming a Rolex First-Time Winner and capturing her first major title. The following month, Park earned her second career win with a four-stroke rally at the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open. She has six additional top-10 finishes in 2017, with no showing worse than 43rd, and finished in the top 20 at four of the season’s five major championships.

Through October 15, Park leads the LPGA in Official Money with $2,092,623, making her the fastest player in LPGA history to reach $2 million in career earnings at 7 months, 13 days (19 starts; 2017 LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship). She was also the fastest to reach $1 million in career earnings following her U.S. Women’s Open victory at 4 months, 14 days (14 events).

Park also sits in the top 10 in Scoring Average (first), Race to the CME Globe (second), Rolex Player of the Year (third), Birdies (sixth), Driving Distance Average (ninth) and Greens in Regulation (sixth). She is currently No. 2 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, less than one point behind No. 1 So Yeon Ryu.

Park is currently on leave from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, where she is majoring in International Sports and Leisure. After taking up the game in the second grade at her mother’s suggestion, Park joined the KLPGA Tour in 2012 at the age of 19. She earned her first win on the KLPGA in 2015, and captured 10 total victories before joining the LPGA Tour in 2017.

Park will receive the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year award at the 2017 Rolex LPGA Awards ceremony, to be held Thursday, Nov. 16, in conjunction with the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship.

About the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year Award

The Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year award, named for the late Louise Suggs, an LPGA Founder and LPGA and World Golf Hall of Fame member, was established in 1962. Suggs passed away at the age of 91 in August 2015 but leaves an unsurpassed legacy behind as the namesake for the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year Award.

This is the 56th year the LPGA Tour will recognize a rookie for their performance in official tournaments. Since its inception, ten Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year winners have become members of the LPGA or World Golf Hall of Fame: Joanne Carner (1970), Amy Alcott (1975), Nancy Lopez (1978), Beth Daniel (1979), Patty Sheehan (1981), Juli Inkster (1984), Annika Sorenstam (1994), Karrie Webb (1996), Se Ri Pak (1998), and Lorena Ochoa (2003).

The rookie of the year award was established in 1962. Until 1992, the rookie of the year award went to the first-year LPGA player who finished with the highest ranking on the LPGA money list through the close of the official domestic LPGA season.

In 1992, a point system was instituted. LPGA Tour rookies are awarded points at each official LPGA tournament based on top 40 finishes and positions 41 through each player making the cut receive 5 points each. All points are doubled at LPGA major championships.

In 2017, the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year point system awarded points to rookies based on their finishes: 1st place – 150 points; 2nd -80; 3rd-75; 4th-70; 5th-65; 6th-62; 7th-59; 8th-56; 9th-53; 10th-50; 11th-48; 12th-46; 13th-44; 14th-42; 15th-40; 16th-38; 17th-36; 18th-34; 19th—32; 20th-30; 21st-29; 22nd-28; 23rd-27; 24th-26; 25th-25; 26th-24; 27th-23; 28th-22; 29th-21; 30th-20; 31st-19; 32nd-18; 33rd-17; 34th-16; 35th-15; 36th-14; 37th-13; 38th-12; 39th-11; and 40th-10. Positions 41 through each player making the cut receive five points each. All points are doubled for the five LPGA major championships.

Past Winners

Year	Player
1962	Mary Mills
1963	Clifford Ann Creed
1964	Susie Berning
1965	Margie Masters
1966	Jan Ferraris
1967	Sharron Moran
1968	Sandra Post
1969	Jane Blalock
1970	JoAnne Carner
1971	Sally Little
1972	Jocelyne Bourassa
1973	Laura Baugh
1974	Jan Stephenson
1975	Amy Alcott
1976	Bonnie Lauer
1977	Debbie Massey
1978	Nancy Lopez
1979	Beth Daniel
1980	Myra van Hoose (Black welder)
1981	Patty Sheehan
1982	Patti Rizzo
1983	Stephanie Farwig
1984	Juli Inkster
1985	Penny Hammel
1986	Jody Rosenthal
1987	Tammie Green
1988	Liselotte Neumann
1989	Pamela Wright
1990	Hiromi Kobayashi
1991	Brandie Burton
1992	Helen Alfredsson
1993	Suzanne Strudwick
1994	Annika Sorenstam
1995	Pat Hurst
1996	Karrie Webb
1997	Lisa Hackney (Hall)
1998	Se Ri Pak
1999	Mi Hyun Kim
2000	Dorothy Delasin
2001	Hee-Won Han
2002	Beth Bauer
2003	Lorena Ochoa
2004	Shi Hyun Ahn
2005	Paula Creamer
2006	Seon Hwa Lee
2007	Angela Park
2008	Yani Tseng
2009	Jiyai Shin
2010	Azahara Munoz
2011	Hee Kyung Seo
2012	So Yeon Ryu
2013	Moriya Jutanugarn
2014	Lydia Ko
2015	Sei Young Kim
2016	In Gee Chun

Sung Hyun Park Clinches 2017 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year Honors

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