Pak Se-ri or Se-ri Pak ( ko, 박세리, ; born 28 September 1977) is a South Korean former professional golfer who played on the

LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of week ...

from 1998 to 2016. She was inducted into the

World Golf Hall of Fame The World Golf Hall of Fame is located at World Golf Village near St. Augustine, Florida, in the United States, and it is unusual among sports halls of fame in that a single site honors both men and women. It is supported by a consortium of 26 go ...

in 2007.

Career overview

Born in Daejeon, she attended Yuseong Elementary School in that city and then Keumseong Girls’ High School in Gongju City,

Chungnam Province South Chungcheong Province ( ko, 충청남도, ''Chungcheongnam-do''), also known as Chungnam, is a province of South Korea. South Chungcheong has a population of 2,059,871 (2014) and has a geographic area of 8,204 km2 (3,168 sq mi) located in ...

, where she was the school's best amateur golfer. She then moved to Seoul for training. Pak turned professional in 1996, a year before she moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

as a 20-year-old. In 1996 and 1997, she won six tournaments on the

LPGA of Korea Tour The LPGA of Korea Tour is a South Korean professional golf tour for women. LPGA stands for Ladies Professional Golf Association. LPGA of Korea runs this tour, not the American LPGA. It is one of the world's five leading women's golf tours. Based o ...

. Pak joined the LPGA Tour full-time for the year

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, crowning her rookie season with victories in two majors: the

McDonald's LPGA Championship The Women's PGA Championship (branded as the KPMG Women's PGA Championship for sponsorship reasons) is a women's professional golf tournament. First held in 1955, it is one of five majors on the LPGA Tour. It is not recognized as a major by th ...

and

U.S. Women's Open The U.S. Women's Open, one of 15 national golf championships conducted by the United States Golf Association (USGA), is the oldest of the LPGA Tour's five major championships, which includes the Chevron Championship, Women's PGA Championship, W ...

. At just 20 years of age, she became the youngest-ever winner of the U.S. Women's Open. About.com writes that "Pak won a 20-hole playoff for that victory, making that tournament - at 92 holes in length - the longest tournament ever in women's professional golf." Four days after the U.S. Women's Open win, Pak shot a then-LPGA record 61 during the second round of the Jamie Farr Kroger Classic. She won the Rolex Rookie of the Year award for that season. Since 1998, she has gone on to win 21 more events on the Tour, including three more majors. In June 2007, at age 29, she qualified for the

, surpassing

Karrie Webb Karrie Ann Webb (born 21 December 1974) is an Australian professional golfer. She plays mainly on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour, and also turns out once or twice a year on the ALPG Tour in her home country. She is a member of the World Golf Hall of F ...

as the youngest living entrant ever. (

Tom Morris, Jr. Thomas Morris (20 April 1851 – 25 December 1875), known as Tom Morris Junior, Young Tom Morris and also Tommy Morris, was a Scottish professional golfer. He is considered one of the pioneers of professional golf, and was the first young prodig ...

, who died in 1875 at the age of 24, had been 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 men's professional golf tour run by the Korea Professional Golfers' Association (KPGA) of South Korea. In 2011, it had total prize money of about US$14 million. Professional golf in Korea dates back to the mid 20th century. ...

. The Korean Tour was a feeder tour for the

Asian Tour The Asian Tour is the principal men's professional golf tour in Asia except for Japan, which has its own Japan Golf Tour, which is also a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours. Official money events on the tour count for Wo ...

and did not offer world ranking points. She finished 10th in the event, according to the World Golf Hall of Fame "becoming the first woman to make the cut in a professional men's tournament since Babe Zaharias did so in 1945." At the 2005 McDonald's LPGA Championship, she missed the cut for the first time in 29 majors. In an interview quoted on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...

'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

for the third time to claim her fifth major title overall. In 2007, she won the

Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic The Dana Open Presented By Marathon, is a women's professional golf tournament on the LPGA Tour. It was founded in 1984 and has been played yearly, except in 1986 and 2011, in Sylvania, Ohio, a suburb northwest of Toledo. The tournament is tele ...

for the fifth time, making her the fourth player in LPGA history to win the same tournament five or more times (

Annika Sörenstam Annika Charlotta Sörenstam (; born 9 October 1970) is a Swedish professional golfer. She is regarded as one of the best female golfers in history. Before stepping away from competitive golf at the end of the 2008 season, she had won 90 intern ...

accomplished this feat at two tournaments). Perhaps the greatest tribute to her career to date came in a column by ''

Golf World ''Golf World'' was a weekly magazine covering the game of golf published by Condé Nast. It was in circulation between 1947 and 2014. Currently, ''Golf World'' still available in digital form and from May 13, 2019 to April 8, 2022, the brand has b ...

'' writer Eric Adelson in 2008, who called Pak "a pioneer... who changed the face of golf even more than

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men's major championships, and holds numerous golf records. * * * Woods is widely regarded as ...

." When Pak came to the LPGA in 1998, she was the only Korean player. Ten years later, she was one of 45 Koreans on tour, and the single largest source of revenue for the LPGA was the sale of TV rights in South Korea. Pak was the only South Korean on the LPGA Tour in the year 1998. Her spectacular triumph at the 1998 U.S. Women's Open encouraged many Korean women to take up golf as a sport. She is regarded as a leader of the game in her home country and has also inspired the new generations of LPGA players

Na Yeon Choi Na Yeon Choi ( ko, 최나연 ; born 28 October 1987) is a South Korean professional golfer playing on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour. In July 2012, she won the U.S. Women's Open for her first major championship. Amateur career At age 17 in 2004, Ch ...

and

Inbee Park Inbee Park (, or ; born 12 July 1988) is a South Korean professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour and the LPGA of Japan Tour. She has been the number one ranked player in the Women's World Golf Rankings for four separate runs: April 2013 ...

who have followed her footsteps at the LPGA level. A statue of her now stands outside Gongju's stadium. This statue commemorates her signature moment: a successful shot from a water hazard to remain tied for first place in the 1998 U.S. Women's Open; this allowed her to force a sudden death playoff which she then won with "a tremendous birdie putt from nearly 20 feet on the second hole." This was a victory named by the Korea Times as the 3rd most acclaimed moment in 60 years of South Korean sports history. Her shot was shown as the basis for the first episode of the Korean TV drama "Birdie Buddy." On 17 March 2016, Pak announced that she would retire following the 2016 season. She retired the following 13 October, after completing the first round of her country's lone LPGA-sanctioned event, the

LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship The LPGA KEB HanaBank Championship was a women's professional golf tournament in Incheon, South Korea, co-sanctioned by the LPGA of Korea Tour and the LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for ...

Professional wins (39)

LPGA Tour (25)

LPGA Tour playoff record (6–0)

LPGA of Korea Tour (14)

Major championships

Wins (5)

¹ Defeated Chuasiriporn on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff, after an 18-hole playoff round
² Defeated Webb on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff

Results timeline

''Results not in chronological order before 2015.'' ^ The Women's British Open replaced the du Maurier Classic as an LPGA major in 2001
^^ The Evian Championship was added as a major in 2013 CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew
"T" = tied for place

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 29 (1997 U.S. Open – 2005 Kraft Nabisco) *Longest streak of top-10s – 5 (2001 U.S. Open – 2002 U.S. Open)

LPGA Tour career summary

*official through 2016 season

World ranking

Position in

Women's World Golf Rankings The Women's World Golf Rankings, also known for sponsorship reasons as the Rolex Rankings, were introduced in February 2006. They are sanctioned by eight women's golf tours and the organisations behind them: Ladies Professional Golf Association ( ...

at the end of each calendar year.

Team appearances

Amateur *

Espirito Santo Trophy The Espirito Santo Trophy (World Women's Amateur Team Championships) is a biennial world amateur team golf championship for women organised by the International Golf Federation. The inaugural event was held in 1964. It was instituted by the Fre ...

(representing South Korea):

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

Professional *

Lexus Cup The Lexus Cup was an annual golf tournament played between 2005 and 2008 for professional women golfers contested by a team representing Asia and an international team representing the rest of the world. It was sanctioned by the LPGA Tour,

(representing Asia team): 2006 (winners), 2007 (winners),

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Filmography

Television shows

Web shows

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pak, Se-ri South Korean female golfers LPGA Tour golfers LPGA of Korea Tour golfers Winners of LPGA major golf championships World Golf Hall of Fame inductees South Korean expatriate sportspeople in the United States Sportspeople from Daejeon South Korean Buddhists 1977 births Living people