Se Ri Pak
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| Personal Information | |
|---|---|
| Birth | September 28, 1977 Daejeon, Korea |
| Height | 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) |
| Nationality |  South Korea |
| Residence | Orlando, Florida, U.S. |
| College | none |
| Career | |
| Turned Pro | 1996 |
| Current tour | LPGA Tour (joined 1998) |
| Other tour | KLPGA (joined 1996) |
| Professional wins | 30 (LPGA Tour: 24, other individual: 6) |
| Best results in major championships Wins: 5 |
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| Kraft Nabisco | T9: 2002 |
| LPGA Championship | Won 1998, 2002, 2006 |
| U.S. Women's Open | Won 1998 |
| Women's British Open | Won 2001 |
| Awards | |
| LPGA Rookie of the Year | 1998 |
| Golf Writers Association of America Female Player of the Year | 1998 |
| Vare Trophy | 2003 |
| LPGA Heather Farr Award | 2006 |
| World Golf Hall of Fame | 2007 |
| Se Ri Pak | ||||||||
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- This is a Korean name; the family name is Pak.
Pak Se Ri (born September 28, 1977 in Daejeon) is a South Korean professional golfer, playing on the LPGA Tour. She was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in November 2007.
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[edit] Career overview
Pak turned professional in 1996, a year before she moved to the United States as a 20-year-old.[1] In 1996 and 1997 she won six tournaments on the Korean LPGA (KLPGA) Tour. Pak joined the LPGA Tour full-time for the year 1998, crowning her rookie season with victories in two majors: the McDonald's LPGA Championship and U.S. Women's Open. She won the Rolex Rookie of the Year award for that season.
Since then she has gone on to win 24 events on the Tour, including three more majors. In June 2007, at age 29, she qualified for the World Golf Hall of Fame, surpassing Karrie Webb as the youngest living entrant ever.[2] Tom Morris, Jr., who died in 1875 at the age of 24, was elected in 1975.
Pak has also competed in a professional men's event, at the 2003 SBS Super Tournament on the Korean Tour. The Korean Tour is a feeder tour for the Asian Tour and does not offer world ranking points. She finished 10th in the event.
At the 2005 LPGA Championship she missed the cut for the first time in 29 majors. In an interview quoted on the PGA Tour's website she commented that she was searching for a balance between her golf and her personal life: "I've been a little bit unhappy about everything, my game, big game. I'm not really enjoying it at all, and I'm not doing anything with my ability. I know what I needed, a much better balance. I'm always putting a lot of pressure on myself". Eventually, she was found to have a finger injury. In 2006 she rediscovered her best form by winning the LPGA Championship for the third time to claim her fifth major title overall.
In 2007, she won the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic for the fifth time, making her the third player in LPGA history to win the same tournament five or more times.
Perhaps the greatest tribute to her career to date came in a column by Golf World writer Eric Adelson in 2008, who called Pak "a pioneer... who changed the face of golf even more than Tiger Woods."[3] When Pak came to the LPGA in 1998, she was the only Korean. In 2008, she is one of 45 Koreans on tour,[4] and the single largest source of revenue for the LPGA is the sale of TV rights in South Korea.[5]
[edit] Professional wins (30)
[edit] LPGA Tour (24)
- 1998 (4) McDonald's LPGA Championship, U.S. Women's Open, Jamie Farr Kroger Classic, Giant Eagle LPGA Classic
- 1999 (4) ShopRite LPGA Classic, Jamie Farr Kroger Classic, Samsung World Championship of Women's Golf, PageNet Championship
- 2001 (5) YourLife Vitamins LPGA Classic, Longs Drugs Challenge, Jamie Farr Kroger Classic, Weetabix Women's British Open, AFLAC Tournament of Champions
- 2002 (5) The Office Depot Championship, McDonald's LPGA Championship, First Union Betsy King Classic, Mobile LPGA Tournament of Champions, CJ Nine Bridges Classic
- 2003 (3) Safeway International, Chick-fil-A Charity Championship, Jamie Farr Kroger Classic
- 2004 (1) Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill
- 2006 (1) McDonald's LPGA Championship
- 2007 (1) Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic
Major championships are shown in bold.
[edit] Korean LPGA (6)
- 1996-1997 (6) Six wins on the KLPGA in 1996 and 1997
[edit] Results in LPGA majors
| Tournament | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kraft Nabisco Championship | - | - | T13 | T15 |
| LPGA Championship | - | 1 | T6 | T3 |
| U.S. Women's Open | T21 | 1 | T14 | T15 |
| du Maurier Classic | - | T41 | T13 | T7 |
| Tournament | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kraft Nabisco Championship | T11 | T9 | T15 | T16 | T27 | T45 | T10 | T10 |
| LPGA Championship | T39 | 1 | T46 | T17 | cut | 1 | T33 | T46 |
| U.S. Women's Open | 2 | 5 | 50 | T32 | T45 | T3 | T4 | CUT |
| Women's British Open ^ | 1 | T11 | 2 | T21 | WD | WD | T5 | CUT |
^The Women's British Open replaced the du Maurier Classic as an LPGA major in 2001.
T = tied
cut = missed the halfway cut
WD = withdrew
- = did not play
green background = won
yellow background = top 10
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ TalkAsia, CNN, 2007
- ^ Pak qualifies for LPGA Tour and World Golf Halls of Fame. LPGA.com. June 7, 2007. Retrieved July 15, 2007. [1]
- ^ Adelson, Eric (2008-09-05). "Bivens' missteps starting to add up". ESPN.com. Retrieved on 2008-11-18.
- ^ "Information: 2008 International Players" (PDF). LPGA. Retrieved on 2008-11-18.
- ^ Sirak, Ron (2008-09-05). "LPGA Tour should have seen the fallout coming from English policy". ESPN.com. Retrieved on 2008-11-18.
[edit] External links
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