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The road is hard. That’s not news. Musicians from Hank Williams to Jon Bon Jovi have been bellowing hits on that subject for as long as songs have been recorded. And you only have to read a few pages of Steinbeck or Kerouac to say, “no, thank you.” A couple of weeks on the road and you realize that human biology hasn’t kept up with our advancements in transportation. There’s actually a phone app called “Where Am I?” used by pilots and flight attendants who wake up needing a reminder.
Those of us who cover sports do our best not to roll our eyes in the TSA line when someone can’t find his or her driver’s license. And we stare in blank resignation at the crowd in front of the hotel counter. But we also do our best to stay as healthy as possible. Hiltons and Marriotts have salads and you can usually find a Whole Foods or farmer’s market within a mile or two of golf courses. And there are always gyms, some better than others, with treadmills and a free weight or two.
That brings us to our newest major champion.
I first met Sei Young Kim in 2015, her first season on the LPGA Tour when she won three times and ran away with the Rolex Louise Suggs Rookie of the Year award. Despite not speaking English, she couldn’t have been friendlier. That magnetic smile you saw at Aronimink has been there from the beginning. So, it wasn’t a big deal when, at an obscene hour when both our body-clocks were out of sync, I ran into her at a hotel gym in Taipei and, through makeshift sign language, asked if she wanted to work out together.
She was quite happy to join me. Then, she jumped insanely high from a cold stand – I mean Spider-Man kind of high – grabbed a bar and reeled off five dead-hang pull-ups as a warm-up. At that moment, jet-lagged and useless, I knew I’d made a serious error in judgment.
We’ve traveled the world in the same roving caravan ever since. As our communications improved (she learned English; I can still barely say “hello” and “thank you” in Korean) Kim let me know that she can’t remember a time when she wasn’t in the gym. Her father is a tae kwon do master who had his daughter working out by the time she could walk.
A great player and a wonderful woman, Sei Young Kim is a worthy and popular major champion. It’s also worth noting that she is an incredible and versatile athlete.
Less noteworthy, my pull-up days, if they ever existed, have long faded in the distance of a well-worn road.
E-MAIL STEVE
Steve Eubanks