[Golf] U.S. Women’s Open Champ Returns to Korea

“It’s been seven long years since I celebrated my birthday in Korea.”

A triumphant Inbee Park (photo), the youngest golfer to win the U.S. Women’s Open, arrived at Incheon International Airport yesterday.

Park seemed excited over celebrating her 20th birthday party Saturday. She left for the United States in 2001 while in her first year of middle school.

“I guess our family will go to a Japanese restaurant for lunch,” she said. “In the evening, I will have fun with my long-missed friends. I will enjoy many foods I cannot taste in America. Wow!”

Park said she’s been getting the star treatment since her win, receiving request after request for interviews and photo ops. At the Arkansas Championships, her first tournament since her Open win, she was also surrounded by armed bodyguards.

“I asked one of my bodyguards if his handgun was real,” she said. “He said it was real and that he had 56 rounds of live ammo. In a situation, he said he would shoot them all.”

Reflecting her newfound fame, big corporate names are trying to sign her to endorsement contracts.

Park will leave for Paris on July 19 to play in the Evian Masters.

kjs0123@donga.com