Golf

Pak is back, smiling again

Time off after suffering burnout and a broken finger has her refreshed and threat to win again.

By BOB HARIG
Published June 28, 2006

NEWPORT, R.I. - She would scale stairs backwards to strengthen her thighs, spend nights in a graveyard to conquer fear, become so successful at golf that Se Ri Pak opened up an entire country to the game.

And she was miserable.

Yes, she was a prolific winner, a major champion, a hero in her homeland of South Korea.

But Se Ri Pak, not even 30 but having achieved enough in the game to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame, was tired and burned out and sick of golf.

It all started eight years ago when Pak, at age 20, won the LPGA Championship and the U.S. Women's Open in succession, her ear-to-ear smile making up for her fractured English.

She has 23 victories, but only one since the new, happier Pak emerged earlier this year.

"I was pushing so hard for the last seven or eight years that I got worn out," Pak said during a recent interview. "That's what happened. I was getting injuries ... everything just happened that had never happened before.

"It seems like it's really been fast. But every year I was pushing more and more and more. I never got a break, ever. I got tired. It was the same things all the time. I didn't take time for my golf, time for my personal life, and then suddenly it hits me."

Pak will be back among the favorites this week at Newport Country Club, where she will try to win her second U.S. Women's Open and sixth major championship.

And that would have been hard to believe just a few months ago.

Pak, who turns 29 in September and now has a home in Orlando in addition to South Korea, went the entire 2005 season without a top 25 finish. She played in just 12 events, and cut her season short after suffering a finger injury during the first round of the Women's British Open.

It turned out to be a blessing. Pak went home for several months to South Korea and regrouped. She didn't play another tournament the rest of the year.

"Every week I stood on the tee and I didn't feel like I wanted to play," she said. "I never enjoyed myself. I hated to be there. I kept telling my coach and parents that I just want a break. I just want to rest."

Pak felt enormous pressure to succeed. As a youth, she trained to be a golfer and really did spend the night at a cemetery at the urging of her father. When she won the two major championships in 1998, she was the only South Korean golfer on the LPGA Tour.

Her success sparked so much interest back home that there are now 32 Koreans who are exempt on the LPGA Tour, including several rookies. Pak is one of eight Koreans to win on tour this year.

"She is one of the reasons I began playing golf," said Christina Kim, an American whose parents are from South Korea. "More than Annika Sorenstam, more than Juli Inkster. She looks like me. She is a Korean woman and showed it was possible. That helped. It's like Michael Jordan out there. She is like a god almost."

LPGA Tour veteran Lori Kane is among Pak's friends on tour and said she is under a big spotlight at home. After Pak's rookie year in 1998, she returned to South Korea for what was supposed to be a triumphant visit.

But after a long week with sponsor appearances, news conferences, ceremonies, formal dinners and a tournament she was expected to win, Pak took ill and had to be hospitalized. She was exhausted and had the flu.

"The first time I went to Korea with her, it was something I had never experienced before," Kane said. "She is like the queen. The rest of the country and the rest of the players we have over here and playing well is all because of what she did her first few years on tour. There are a lot of little kids playing and following up because of her."

"That's why mentally and physically I was having a hard time," Pak said. "Now they seem to understand me. I'm a human being. I'm not different than anyone. I just play golf. The best thing is to try and have some fun. Before, I really wanted to do well. Now I'm more relaxed. My game is not really the way I want it to be but I know sooner or later it will come back to normal."

Kane said an understandable letdown occurred. When Pak won the Michelob Ultra Open at Kingsmill in 2004, it gave her the points necessary to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame.

All she had to do was wait for the 10-year mark of her career (which does not occur until next season) to be officially inducted.

"She probably sat back and said, 'Now what do I do?' " Kane said. "Then she got hurt. I don't know if people know how severe that injury was. She broke a finger and that takes a long time to heal."

Pak showed some promise earlier this year, getting her first top-10 finish at the Ginn Open in Orlando. Then she found herself in a sudden-death playoff at the LPGA with Webb, where she hit a utility club from more than 200 yards to inches for a winning birdie.

[Last modified June 28, 2006, 06:26:07]