Se Ri Pak is a legend in her home country. She is, was, and will continue to be a big part of the Marathon Classic.
Before leaving her home country and venturing across the Pacific to the United States, she won 12 Korean championships, six of which, she won, while still an amateur. In 1998 the first two events she won on American soil were on challenging courses and in major championships. She was victorious in the LPGA Championship (now the Women’s PGA Championship) at DuPont Country Club, as well as, the U.S. Women’s Open at Blackwolf Run Golf Couse in Kohler, Wisconsin.
Se Ri spawned Korean domination in women’s golf. Along the way she won 39 international professional titles, including 25 LPGA Tour events. She won major championships like the U.S. Women’s Open, three Women’s PGA Championships, plus the 2001 Women’s British OPEN.
Pak was so successful that she was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2007.
Other young girls in Korea saw Pak’s success on the global golf stage and dared to dream of achieving that same level of success. Looking at the current Rolex World Ranking, four Korean women are ranked inside the top 10, plus they account for eight of the top 20 women golfers.
Inbee Park was one of those young women that emulated Se Ri and vowed to practice harder to make her own mark on golf. She has done just that with 20 LPGA Tour titles, including seven major championships. Park also won the first Olympic Gold Medal awarded in golf at the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro.
USGA Bob Jones Award is the highest honor the USGA can bestow and recognizes distinguished sportsmanship in the game of golf. It includes an illustrious group of Former winners, Francis Ouimet, Babe Zaharias, Patty Berg, Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Jack Nicklaus, Lorena Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam. This year the USGA has announced it will award the 2020 Bob Jones award to Se Ri Pak.
In the announcement the USGA said,
“Se Ri Pak took golf to new heights during her 20-year professional career and inspired an entire generation with her U.S. Women’s Open victory in 1998. Her character, sportsmanship and generosity, combined with her accomplishments on the course, left an enduring impact on the game.”
Se Ri Pak has indeed been an inspiration in golf. In Ohio, we knew that a long time ago. We had the pleasure of watching her dominate the competition, when she won the 1998, 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2007 Marathon Classics.
