South Korea’s Seri Pak never was going to miss the golf. When she walked away from the LPGA in 2016, already a World Golf Hall of Fame member, already having been the spark for an entire country – dare we say continent? – to play golf, she knew that she wouldn’t miss the part where she was striking the shots.
“No, not at all,” Pak said, smiling. “I knew it. I really knew I was never going to miss it and never coming back. That’s just my 110 percent.”
Funny, though, that when Pak showed up to last week’s Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship at Palos Verdes Golf Club in suburban Los Angeles and walked past the registration area, she had to remind herself that she was there as a tournament host, and not a player. Sure, eventually she would tee it up, be it for a pro-am alongside Yani Tseng, who was thrilled by the surprise pairing with one of her longtime heroes. Pak made sure to remind one and all that she was the “am” in the pro-am.
That’s not to say that Seri Pak – yes, the golfer formerly known as Se Ri goes by Seri now – isn’t doing great things in the game. That’s what last week was all about. Having achieved her dreams as a player, the 46-year-old Pak now finds fulfillment providing opportunities to other young players.
She is a successful businesswoman back home in South Korea, and had her name on a Korean LPGA stop for years. She runs a foundation that helps junior golfers. And last week, for the first time, her name was part of the marquee on an LPGA Tour event, joining players such as Annika Sörenstam and Michelle Wie West in being an LPGA host.
“Annika has her tournament a couple years, and as players, everybody wants it, dreams about it,” Pak said. “It is probably a new dream, actually.”
Pak as a host was dealing with some of the same nerves she once sorted through as a player. There was a new level of excitement, which was good. Pak: “My heart is beating, so that’s really fun.”
What was telling in Pak’s return is how much her presence delighted the modern-day LPGA players, whether there were Korean ties or not. Seri Pak always will mean so much to so many.
“She’s definitely someone everyone looks up to, not just from her accolades, but even with this event she’s inspiring younger generations like myself to be able to push ourselves and hopefully do something more later on with our golf careers,” said Rose Zhang, the LPGA's current rocket ship on the launch pad.
It was at Blackwolf Run in Wisconsin in 1998 (was it really that long ago?) that fans in the U.S. got to know Pak, watching in amazement as she took off her shoes and socks, waded shin-deep into water on the 18th hole of a Monday playoff at the U.S. Women’s Open, hit a quality shot off a sidehill bank and managed to make a bogey to push amateur Jenny Chuasiriporn of Duke into sudden-death holes.
On the 92nd hole – regulation plus 20 holes of overtime golf – Pak ran in a birdie putt to become the then-youngest U.S. Women’s Open champion at age 20. Already she had captured a major title (McDonald’s LPGA) earlier that season, but this was the moment that resonated globally. She would find out a week later that back home in Korea, practically an entire country was watching her feat.
Pak’s heroics would be played on inspirational national videos in South Korea that ran over and over at the start of schooldays for youths.
“Seri Pak is like ... how to explain? Just like, really, legend,” Korean PGA Tour golfer K.H. Lee said Saturday at the Valspar Championship in Palm Harbor, Florida. Lee, 32, does not know Pak personally, but knows her impact well. “I’m very young at that time – 1998, right? A lot of Korean people, she makes a lot of emotionally ‘brave.’ A lot of Korean, she makes happy.”
“Yes, she’s really big in Korea. Legend of legend.”
Among the young girls in South Korea that Pak would inspire in winning that U.S. Women’s Open so long ago: Inbee Park, who was one week shy of age 10 at the time and told her parents, “I can do that.” She has, too, winning seven major titles, including two U.S. Women’s Opens. Another was a then-10-year-old Jiyai Shin, whom Pak invited to play this week in L.A. on a sponsor exemption. The former world No. 1 plays sparingly in the U.S. these days, but led at Fir Hills heading into Sunday before finishing tied for fifth.
When Pak showed up to watch her, Shin strung together three birdies.
“I want her to come out tomorrow, more,” Shin said. “Maybe a little bit earlier.”
Shin’s inspiration to take up golf in the first place? Easy. Seri Pak.
“She give to me a dream and a goal, so ...”
There are not many people in any profession who can lay claim to sparking an entire generation behind them. There exists a terrific picture of Pak standing alongside five other U.S. Women’s Open champions: So Yeon Ryu (2011), Birdie Kim (2005), Na Yeon Choi (2012), Eun-Hee Ji (2009) and Park (2008, 2013). U.S. Women’s Open champions one could add to that photo from the past decade: In-Gee Chun (2015), Sung Hyun Park (2017), Jeongeun Lee6 (2019) and A Lim Kim (2020).
“I’m trying to give more opportunities for the young kids. They grow up, they have dreams. We’re trying to help them do their father’s dream.”
Seri Pak
Mightily impressive. All inspired by a one-time 14-year-old who went to hit balls at the range and noticed that everyone else hitting balls was the age of her parents, or grandparents. She started swinging anyway.
Pak seemingly was everywhere at Palos Verdes last week, performing her duties hands-on, the way Sörenstam does at her event (at Pelican Golf Club near Tampa, Florida), and Wie West does at hers (at Liberty National, in New Jersey). All three players received so much from golf, and are inspired to pay it forward to the benefit of the game.
“To have their name on the tournament makes the younger kids now not to forget about them as well,” said native Filipina Yuka Saso, who now plays out of Japan. Saso won the U.S. Women’s Open three years ago at age 19. “Like because as the years goes on, I think a lot of players coming up, and I think sometimes we forget about, ‘OK, why is there everything here?’
“We can't forget about the legends.”
L.A. is a city full of hip things, and last week’s Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship can join that list. Having her name on a tournament gives Pak one more chance to see one of her dreams come to life, but most importantly, bigger picture, it’s about allowing others the chance to dream big, too.
“I’m trying to give more opportunities for the young kids,” Pak said. “They grow up, they have dreams. We’re trying to help them do their father’s dream.”
Not to mention fill a few of their own.
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Top: Seri Pak presents the winner's trophy to Nelly Korda.
Orlando Ramirez, Getty Images