UTPB golfer Sangha Park wasn’t impressed with his performance during this past fall.
He more than made up for it this spring.
The junior from South Korea put an exclamation point on his first season at UTPB by placing fourth at the conference tournament this past week.
Before the start of the Lone Star Conference Tournament at the WinStar Golf Course Thackerville, Okla., Park was named this year’s Newcomer of the Year at the conference awards banquet this past week.
“Last semester, I struggled a lot. Then, after I won the award, I felt like everything was meant to be,” Park said. “After the fall, I grinded more and worked harder and now, I’ve improved more than before.”
Park was stunned after learning about his Newcomer of the Year honor.
“I was pretty shocked because I knew I played pretty well in the spring but I played really bad in the fall,” Park said.
Last fall, Park had a promising start to the season with a 76-71—147 at the Arendsen Invitational in Grand Rapids, Mich. in September.
He then slipped at the Missouri Southern State Invitational, shooting 82-75-72—229 to finish 44th overall and third on the team.
Things didn’t get much easier as Park struggled at the Ryan Palmer Invite in Amarillo, shooting 78-71-75—224 and finishing 74th overall at the tournament.
At the Midwestern State Invite, Park went 71-76-72—219, finishing tied for 38th.
He knew had to make some adjustments as the mid-season break approached.
During the winter break, Park went to Fort Worth and trained under former PGA Tour member K.J. Choi.
“He taught me how to hit from the bunker and we would 600 to 1,000 balls each day,” Park said. “I changed my form and my grip over the winter, especially with my iron shots.”
The improvement quickly started to show.
At the first meet of the spring portion of the season, Park shot six-under at the Rattler Invite to grab the individual top spot and lead the Falcons to a fifth place team finish in San Antonio.
The next meet, Park again would shine, defeating five of the top 10 ranked golfers in the NCAA at the Las Vegas Desert Classic as he shot 74, 70 and 71 over the weekend in March.
At the Palm Valley Classic earlier this month, Park went 71-75-69—215, once again leading the team and finishing third as an individual.
His confidence got better with each performance.
“After I was done training and the spring tournaments got going, I gained confidence from that,” Park said. “I saw that it was working. I played terrible after the first couple of tournaments but I started improving, steadily. I’m still building my confidence with each tournament.”
At this week’s conference tournament, Park shot a 71 in the first round, a 75 in the second before going 67 in the third round to finish with a score of 213 and place in the top five individually.
“I struggled a lot in the second round but then on Tuesday morning, I tried figuring out what was wrong,” Park said. “Then, I was way too hyped, mentally and body-wise. Tuesday, I kept telling myself to relax. Some shots may not go right but I had to relax and the good shots would come.”
The tournament began on Monday with the first two rounds and the third round took place on Tuesday.
As a team, the Falcons finished sixth overall, going 290-302-292—884.
UTPB was two places off from advancing to the semifinals but Park said he and his teammates are excited for next season.
“So, the first round was pretty calm,” Park said. “We started off pretty well. Then in the second 18 of that first day, we struggled a little bit. … On Tuesday, we cheered each other on. We fought through and we’re going to continue to fight through for the future. We didn’t make it to semifinals but we tasted hope. We’re excited for next season.”
