US Junior Girls' Championship: Park wins 4 & 3
Lakewood, Wash. – Kristen Park, 14, of Buena Park, Calif., became the fourth-youngest champion in U.S. Girls' Junior history Saturday, defeating Japanese-born Ayaka Kaneko of Honolulu, Hawaii, 4 and 3, at Tacoma Country and Golf Club.
Only 1999 winner Aree Song Wongluekiet, 2006 champion Jenny Shin and 2002 champ In-Bee Park were younger than Park (14 years, 7 months, 1 day). Park won three of the first five holes of the afternoon round and owned a 3-up lead after 27 holes. She won the 30th hole with a par and halved the remaining three to beat the 17-year-old Kaneko.
Kaneko was a quarterfinalist at the 2006 U.S. Women's Amateur and qualified for the 2006 U.S. Women's Open, but missed the cut.
--USGA story
ABOUT THE U.S. Girls' Junior Amateur
The Girls Junior Amateur is one of 14
national
championships conducted by the USGA.
The
event is open to female golfers who have
not
reached their 19th birthday prior to the
close
of competition and whose USGA Handicap
Index does not exceed 9.4. 36 hole
stroke
play qualifying from which 64 players
advance
to match play. Regional qualifying held at
sites
around the United States.
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