Annie Park, the 2018 ShopRite LPGA champion, once considered giving up the game

GALLOWAY, N.J. – Annie Park returned Tuesday to Seaview as the defending champion of the ShopRite LPGA Classic, the highlight of a year that saw her win a career-high $549,421 and give herself a decent chance of being part of the 2019 U.S. Solheim Cup team.

During a visit with reporters, however, she talked about how she thought about giving up the game at the end of 2017 and going into another line of work, maybe taking advantage of her degree in journalism and communications from the University of Southern California, where she enjoyed a stellar golf career.

A talk with Bo Park, one of her older sisters, convinced her to give it one more year.

“I was struggling with putting for the longest time,” said the 24-year-old Park, who was accompanied to her interview by her dog, Night. “I went through a back injury and I had a bad year and I just didn’t want to go through all of the travel and the whole not-playing-well. It was really tough.

“My sister was like, ‘Why don’t you give it one last shot, and give it 150 percent … just go beyond 100 percent and see how you feel at the end of the year. If you gave it your best shot and it didn’t work out, then at least you don’t regret.’ So last year was that year for me. I had the win and it kind of changed up a lot of things.”

Thanks in large part to her change to a long putter, her 2018 season gave her exempt status, meaning she could plan her schedule for the entire 2019 season. One regular stop is the ShopRite LPGA Classic, the closest event to her Long Island home. It’s a drive of about 2½ hours for her family to watch her play, and they’ll be out in force for the tournament from June 7 through 9.

“I definitely like putting Atlantic City on my schedule,” she said. “It’s an excuse to go home for a little bit and see family. For them to even come out, because my family can’t come out to much of my tournaments because they’re busy. I think it’s one way to kind of bond as a family, to come out for this event.”

Park’s best finish in nine tournaments this season is a tie for third at the Los Angeles Open last month. She is 19th in the U.S. Solheim Cup standings and says playing in the biennial competition against Europe “is a lifelong dream.”

However, her most publicized moment of the year came a few weeks earlier when thieves broke into her rental car and stole her clubs the night before the first round of the ANA Inspiration, the season’s first major.

“I think [people] recognize me more that I’d lost my clubs than my win last year,” she said. “I got more coverage of my clubs getting stolen than my win. It’s definitely part of my career now, so it’s fine.”

Notes. In addition to Park, tournament officials announced that past champions Karrie Webb, a member of the LPGA Hall of Fame, Stacy Lewis, Anna Nordqvist, Cristie Kerr, and I.K. Kim have committed to play in the event. They are scheduled to be joined by Lexi Thompson, Michelle Wie, Paula Creamer, Christina Kim, and New Jersey native Marina Alex. … Two sponsor exemptions went to veteran Natalie Gulbis and current Duke senior Virginia Elena Carta, the runner-up in the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Rolling Green Golf Club in Springfield, Delaware County.