Pak Se Ri

▪ 1999

      The Associated Press called her "the rookie sensation"; Time magazine hailed her as the "Tigress Woods" of golf; and the New York Times claimed she was the best product South Korea had ever exported to the U.S. In 1998 there seemed to be no superlative too great for Pak Se Ri, the most exciting rookie to appear in women's golf since Nancy Lopez made her Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) debut in 1978. In her first year on the LPGA circuit, Pak won two major tournaments, became the second highest money winner on the tour, and carded the lowest 18- and 72-hole scores in LPGA history. She also captured the hearts of an entire nation; one year after leaving South Korea for the U.S. as a virtual unknown, Pak was given a hero's welcome in October when she returned to her homeland to accept the Blue Dragon, South Korea's top sports award.

      In the first nine events of the 1998 LPGA season, Pak had finished no better than 11th, but by May she had shifted her game into high gear. At the McDonald's LPGA championship in May in Wilmington, Del., she jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. She finished with an 11-under-par 273 to win by three strokes and take the $195,000 prize. Only 20 years old, she was the youngest golfer ever to win the event and the second youngest to win a major women's tournament.

      On July 6 Pak won the U.S. Women's Open in Kohler, Wis. In one of the Open's most memorable finishes, she outdueled amateur Jenny Chuasiriporn in a 20-hole play-off after both golfers had tied in regulation play. The victory made her the youngest woman golfer to win two majors and the first rookie to win two majors since Julie Inkster in 1987. Nearly eight million South Koreans stayed up late to watch Pak's historic achievement on television.

      Just six days after her U.S. Open triumph, Pak won another tournament, the Jamie Farr Kroger Classic. Her stunning second-round score of 61 and her four-round total of 261 were both LPGA records. By season's end she had added one more tournament victory, at the Giant Eagle LPGA Classic, and captured the LPGA's Rookie of the Year award.

      Pak was born on Sept. 28, 1977, in Daejon, S.Kor. Her father introduced her to golf when she was 14 years old, and she soon took up the sport avidly. She won 30 tournaments in South Korea as an amateur. She turned professional in 1996 and moved to the U.S. the following year to train under noted golf coach David Leadbetter. In October 1997 she joined the LPGA.

WANG HEE SOO

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