Annie Park set a new record at Bethpage. (Photo by J. Conrad Williams, Jr., Newsday)
Seventeen-year-old Annie Park of Levittown, N.Y., was only one of two girls playing in the 135-player event -- Lowe's 14-year-old sister Alix was the other. Park's school district doesn't have a girls' golf team so she plays on the boys' team, from the same tees as her male teammates. An accomplished junior who won medalist honors at the New Jersey sectional qualifier for the U.S. Women's Open in May, Park put on a show that, according to New York Newsday, drew "a caravan of onlookers as the afternoon progressed."
Lowe, who was tied with Park at 4-under after day one and got to see her play up close, compared the experience to being "hit by a freight train" (Park's 8-under 134 also annihilated Lowe's old scoring record for the event by six shots). "She must be one of the best female golfers in the world," he told Newsday. Maybe not yet, but it looks like she has great potential. Once Park graduates from high school in January, she's going to the University of Southern California on a full golf scholarship.
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--Stina Sternberg
