In-Bee Park

In-Bee Park, 14, of Eustis, Fla., defeated Jenni Tangtiphaiboontana, 17 of Long Beach, Calif., 4 and 3, to win the 54th U.S. Girls' Junior Championship at the par-73, 6,353-yard Echo Lake Country Club in Westfield, N.J. In winning, Park became the second youngest to win the Girls' Junior behind Aree Wongluekiet, who captured the event at 13 in 1999.

"I can't believe I won the Girls' Junior Championship," said Park. "It's a dream come true. I am very happy and excited."

The first stages of the dream began for Park when she moved from Korea to America at the age of 13 to pursue a career in golf.

Park, who won medalist honors in stroke play, faced the crowd's sentimental favorite in the final match, Tangtiphaiboontana. In November of 2001, Tangtiphaiboontana's parents were killed in a car accident - with Jenni as a passenger - coming home from a tournament in California.

With an enthusiastic crowd and her brother, Tommy, rooting her on, Tangtiphaiboontana tried to overcome the solid and consistent play of Park.

"I figured I'd come out and play my game," said a calm Tangtiphaiboontana. "If it's not my day, it's not my day."

The match began all square through the first two holes, but all of that changed at the third when Park parred and Tangtiphaiboontana two-putted for bogey. The nervous and tired Park took a 1-up lead. She would never relinquish it.

Park's long game, which averaged 240 yards off the tee, surprisingly wasn't as big an advantage in the victory. The bigger storyline had more to do with Tangtiphaiboontana' s erratic putting.

Throughout the round, Tangtiphaiboontana had many many opportunities on the green. "I misread a lot," said Tangtiphaiboontana. "I didn't know which way the ball would break."

The match was even through the 4th and 5th holes, but on the 6th, Tangtiphaiboontana ended up three-putting from the fringe rough to concede the hole.

Park went on to win the next two holes when Tangtiphaiboontana missed putts for halves. Park went into the par-4 13th with confidence, getting on in two, and sinking an 8-footer for birdie, giving her a 4-up lead.

"When I was 4 down, I was like, 'Oh, 4 down. I don't know if I have a chance to win,'" said Tangtiphaiboontana. Her chances seemed to get better after she parred the 192-yard par 3 and Park failed to get up and down out of the bunker, which resulted in a bogey.

But Park erased Tangtiphaiboontana's vision of a glorious comeback on the short par-5 15th when she sank an 8-foot birdie putt after Tangtiphaiboontana had two-putted for par. With her win, Park became the first medalist to win the championship since Beth Bauer in 1997.

In the previous day's semifinal matches, Park defeated Hannah Jun, 16, of San Diego, Calif., in 20 holes, while Tangtiphaiboontana won over Catalina Martin, 16, of Colombia, 2 and 1.

Morgan Pressel, 14, of Boca Raton, Fla., a 2001 semifinalist, lost in the third round to Jane Park in an exciting 21-hole match.