Friday, Aug. 5, 2005 | 10:09 a.m.
Her game might be grown beyond its years, but 17-year-old In-Bee Park will still have to take the slower and more traditional route to the LPGA.
Outgoing tour commissioner Ty Votaw denied last week Park's request to participate in this fall's qualifying school for the LPGA. The minimum age to compete on the women's tour is 18 years old, but Votaw set a precedent for exceptions by allowing prodigious talent Aree Song to go to Q-school before her 18th birthday.
Song, though, graduated high school early in anticipation of a tour shot and carried significant LPGA experience on her resume. A rising senior at Bishop Gorman High School, Park has played in just three LPGA events and does not graduate until the same time she turns 18 in June 2006.
Speaking from this week's U.S. Women's Amateur at Ansley Golf Club in Roswell, Ga., Park, a Las Vegas area resident, said Votaw gave her two main reasons for his decision.
"He said my petition has been denied because my experience wasn't good enough and because of maturity," Park said.
Park, moved to Las Vegas from Florida to practice at Butch Harmon's golf school less than two years ago, is the defending class 4A high school state champion and a finalist in this year's U.S. Girls Junior championship. Playing on sponsor's exemptions, she finished tied for eighth and fifth in the past two LPGA Takefuji Classic events at Las Vegas Country Club.
Park said that after making her petition, she met with Votaw at the LPGA's Canadian Open for about 15 minutes. He did not pose many questions, she said, instead choosing to let Park do the talking.
"He just wanted me to ask questions of him," Park said.
Votaw said that despite Park's two strong LPGA finishes, he did not feel she owned sufficient professional experience to make an exception to the age minimum. He stood firm on that standard for the second time in a month, having already denied 17-year-old Carmen Bandea, a young player from Atlanta with less credentials than Park.
In a recent statement, Votaw attempted to make it clear that despite the recent surge of teenagers having success in LPGA events, he is not going to clear the way for them to become regular tour members without plenty of thought
"There will be a very devout and deliberate process where we take what's in the best interests of the individual and the best interests in the organization to play as to whether or not those petitions, if they come, get granted," Votaw said.
Song and 17-year-old Morgan Pressel, who nearly won this year's U.S. Women's Open, are the only two players who have been granted exceptions to the age minimum. If Pressel qualifies at this year's q-school, she still won't be allowed to play regularly on the LPGA circuit until she graduates high school next summer.
Votaw told the Orlando Sentinel last weekend that Song and Pressel brought better credentials to the table than did Park.
"They had considerably more experience in playing LPGA events," Votaw said. "That's what we will always look at initially in terms of first impressions and data points."
Although she will have to wait until after her high school career to go for her tour card, Park can still compete in up to six events as a non-member of the LPGA this season. She will have to take the hard road of either gathering sponsor's exemptions or playing in Monday qualifying along with non-exempt members of the tour.
Park lost Thursday in the second round of match play at the Women's Amateur, falling 4 and 3 to Jane Rah of Torrance, Calif. A fitful night of sleep gave way to a bad day on the course.
"I just couldn't make my putts today," Park said. "I just played so bad today."
archive
