WHO is Se Ri Pak? Pak’s only long shot
is off the teeRemember the name. The LPGA Tour rookie figures to be the hottest thing out of Korea since kim chee.
Don't take my word for it. Just ask Laura Davies, the long-hitting Brit who has won 14 tournaments. Davies was so impressed by Pak's game that she placed a 100-pound bet at 66-1 odds that the Taejon native would win the LPGA Tour's season-opening HealthSouth Inaugural.
Pak didn't, tying for 13th. But Davies still thinks it was a good bet. Chances are, the odds on Pak winning a tournament won't be that good again. That includes the Cup Noodles Hawaiian Ladies Open beginning today at the Kapolei Golf Course.
Pak, who won't be 21 until September, is labeled as a can't-miss phenom and the LPGA's answer to Tiger Woods. Back in South Korea, she's already a national celebrity. They call her, "Super Lady" and "Monster," the latter for her booming drives. Maybe not movie-star famous yet, but she's only a victory or two away from achieving that status.
As in the case of Woods, who has Nike as a sugar daddy bank-rolling him, Pak's not feeling any financial pressure. Her sponsor is Samsung, the huge Korean conglomerate.
"Feel pressure? No," said Pak, who speaks English, but was more comfortable expressing herself in Korean through an interpreter yesterday. She loves to sleep when she's not playing video games. And surprisingly, she prefers Italian food over Korean.
THE top players in the field, including defending champion Annika Sorenstam, played in the pro-am yesterday. As a rookie, Pak sat it out. But give her time.
Pak has shown she belongs on the American tour. She was the co-medalist at LPGA Tour Qualifying School and tied for 13th in the U.S. Women's Open as an amateur.
Pak has set lofty goals for 1998. She wants to finish in the top 10 on the LPGA money list and in every tournament she plays.
"Every tournament, I want to do my best," she said.
"She's very positive and confident. A nice person to be around," said Jeff Cable, Pak's caddy. They first met in Orlando, Fla., where Pak has lived for a year while preparing for Q-School last fall.
"We're able to communicate," said Cable, who doesn't speak Korean.
Golf has a universal language, and the only reading that counts is reading the greens correctly.
Pak found the greens confusing, missing a lot of short putts, in the Los Angeles Women's Championship last week. In two practice rounds at Kapolei, she found the greens more to her liking.
SINCE it's her first time around, everything will be a new experience, especially her first look at different golf courses. But Pak has shown she's a fast learner.
She picked up the game at the relatively late age of 14 because of her father, Jun Chul Pak, a Taejon businessman. She soon picked up the nickname "Monster" with her prodigious drives, winning 30 tournaments as an amateur.
While still in her teens, Pak played on the Korean Tour for 112 years before deciding to come to America. Unlike many of her peers, who opted for the Japan circuit.
Her game was good enough, she felt, to play on the American tour. It hasn't turned out to be much of a gamble. Her odds of succeeding are definitely better than what Davies had going.
In two events this year, she has earned $11,184. But her financial future looks rosier than the current South Korean economy.
And Pak's chances of being named the 1998 LPGA Rookie of the Year? Considering that in five of the last six years, the top rookie has hailed from abroad, Pak's chances are better than even money. Bet on it.