Angela Park is a very peculiar golfer, Brazilian by birth and South Korean parents. She became an adopted United States citizen after living where all her dreams had come true since she was eight years old.
After an interesting amateur career at the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA), where she won five tournaments and for four seasons remained in the top among 24 of the 29 tournaments, she participated in.
Her qualities allowed the Brazilian golfer to make the leap into professional competition at the age of 17, in April 2006. Park’s rise was evident by the end of 2007, when he managed to get on the top rung eight money making professional golfers, winning $938,922 after participating in 29 tournaments.
From top star to a simpler life
Success for the woman of three nationalities was short-lived; in October 2010 and at the age of 22 she retired from the sport after citing being physically and mentally exhausted, as well as losing her passion for golf.
Considered the best exponent of golf in Brazilian history, having reached 14th in the world rankings, Angela tried to return in 2012 but the attempt to regain her previous level of play was not successful.
Angela Park went from being a promising top golfer to working as a hotel receptionist “for the sake of simplicity, I was curious about the world outside of golf,” as she declared in 2013 for Folha de Sao Paulo.