EDINA, Minn. -- Sunday, Angela Park said she plans to wear a specially selected blouse, embroidered with an American eagle and all the colors of the U.S. flag.
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| Angela Park's 6-under 67 included an eagle. (Getty Images) |
Actually, she has taken an oath, too. The reigning LPGA Rookie of the Year became a United States citizen earlier this month, attending a massive naturalization ceremony at Staples Center in Los Angeles. Along with about 5,000 other teeming, beaming immigrants.
Unlike the vast majority of international athletes competing in this country, Park went through weeks of preparation for the tests required of new citizens, exams most of us homegrown sons and daughters of Uncle Sam would butcher beyond comprehension.
"I thought it was going to be easy, like, 'What are the colors on the flag and how many states are there?'" she laughed. "But it was way harder than that."
As the biggest tournament in women's golf is contested this weekend, just days before the July 4 holiday will be celebrated, Park could soon represent the quickest American success story on record. It's hard for native Yanks to imagine how a victory would be received in her family, because in an era when many Americans take their lives and luxuries for granted, the Park clan has paid its dues and then some.
Park, whose parents are of South Korean heritage, was born in Brazil, where her father had relocated to pursue a business opportunity. Angela, now 19, thus was considered a Brazilian citizen. But since moving to Southern California at age 9, she's become as All-American as any homegrown mall rat.
When the family relocated, the Parks made it a point to become fast immersed in the culture and traditions, which in her case, included golf. Angela, the youngest of four kids, has three brothers -- all of them have already passed the difficult U.S. naturalization exam.
More impressive, two of her brothers are in the armed services -- one in the Marines, another in the Navy.
"My dad is so proud of that," Angela said. "It was such a long journey for him, to Brazil, to the U.S., so for us to become citizens, he took great pride in that."
That said, if the baby of the litter was to win the U.S. championship, dad might keel over in a dead faint, and Park seems headed in that direction. Playing in her second Open last year on North Carolina, Park finished in a tie for second with Lorena Ochoa, making a huge impression in what amounted to her coming-out party. NBC analyst Johnny Miller, a man who does not sling around praise lightly, gushed several times that she owned the best swing on the LPGA Tour.
After beginning the second round at even par, Park on Friday matched the low round of the week with a 6-under 67 to climb atop the leaderboard in the morning wave of players at Interlachen Country Club. In keeping with the general Americana theme here, Park's round included an eagle.
Hard as the U.S. Open might be to negotiate, it amounts to her second-toughest test of the month. Applicants for U.S. citizenship are grilled on language, history and other exam topics that many of us spoiled natives purged from our memory banks before we exited high school. Park said it was not a multiple-choice exam, either, so luck played no part in the process.
