Thursday, March 18, 2004
East Valley Tribune Online
Pak is LPGA’s stealth superstar
By Slim Smith, Tribune
In an effort to ease crowding during today’s opening round of the Safeway International at Superstition Mountain Golf and Country Club in Gold Canyon, the LPGA Tour has asked me to provide the following information:
Annika Sorenstam will go off the No. 10 tee at 11:45 a.m.
Michelle Wie will go off the No. 10 tee at 1:35 p.m.
Everyone else in the field will go off clothed only in Victoria’s Secret apparel.
There are 144 players in the field, but one story line: Annika vs. Michelle. The Now of women’s golf vs. the Future of women’s golf.
The events of the past 10 months demand that our attention focus laser-like on these two. In May, at the PGA Tour’s Bank of America Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas, Sorenstam almost proved that, under just the right circumstances, a woman can complete on the PGA Tour. In January, Wie missed the cut by a shot at the PGA Tour’s Sony Open in Hawaii, frightening the bejeebers out of a host of tour players who faced the indignity of not just being beaten by a 14-year-old, but being beaten by a 14-year-old girl.
With the heart rates on the PGA Tour having returned to normal, Sorenstam and Wie meet today on a more conventional field of battle — the LPGA Tour.
Now, if only Se Ri Pak will cooperate.
Pak is to the Sorenstam-Wie rivalry what the Philadelphia 76ers of the late 1970s and early 1980s were to the Lakers-Celtics rivalry: Every time you get ready for Magic vs. Larry, Dr. J was always out there, threatening to spoil the party.
Don’t be surprised if Pak gums up the works this week.
Pak finds herself in the unique position of being the defending champion at a tournament played at a course she has never played. Last year, Pak held off former Arizona State All-American Grace Park to win the event at Moon Valley Country Club. With the tournament relocated to Gold Canyon, Pak’s status as champion is largely ceremonial.
And virtually ignored, thanks to the presence of Sorenstam and Wie.
Pak isn’t getting all huffy about what some athletes might view as a snub.
In fact, she’s pretty much used to the treatment on this side of the Pacific.
Back home in South Korea, she is the country’s most popular female athlete ("even 3, 4 years old, they recognize me,’’ she says).
Here?
This is all you need to know: The LPGA’s promotional calendar for the 2004 season featured six players. Annika, obviously, was on the poster. But so were Park, Laura Diaz, Cristie Kerr, Natalie Gulbis and Beth Bauer, who have seven wins among them.
But not Pak, even after a season in which she won the Vare Trophy for scoring average, finished second on the money list and — with three more tour wins — moved to within a point of becoming eligible for the Hall of Fame.
Someone at the LPGA came to their senses, and the most recent version of the poster includes Pak, who bumped Bauer off it.
But the poster situation suggests that Pak may be an afterthought, even among LPGA officials.
The reasons revolve mainly around two things: language and culture. Both make her hard to promote, harder to identify with.
Even after six years on the tour, Pak still struggles with her English. It is a factor compounded by her basic shyness and her struggles with adapting to western culture.
This was especially true in her early years on the tour. When she joined the tour in 1998, she was one of just two Korean players. Today, there are 21 Koreans, including five rookies.
"The language is different, the food is different. Everything different,’’ she said Wednesday. "And the other things is just you (are) pretty much lonely, you know? . . . That’s a big, hard time for myself to be, you know, being (by) myself. I mean, I really want to be strong friends and I love to talk to someone, but it’s so scared because I can’t speak.’’
It is a testament to Pak’s strength of character that she not only survived the isolation of those early years, but thrived. She won the McDonald’s LPGA Championship as a rookie, her first major. Since then, she has added 20 more victories and three more major titles.
Her stated goal is to supplant Sorenstam’s as the LPGA’s top player. That goal achieved, she’ll worry about Wie when the time comes.
That someone could be so bold as to challenge Sorenstam’s record of excellence or Wie’s seemingly limitless promise seems, at first, brash.
But then you consider Pak’s record. And, as she points out, "I (am) still 26 years old. (I have) many game of golf left for myself. So I only think of No. 1 spot.’’
Which means she has no concern for mucking up today’s story line.
Sorry about that.
Pak is LPGA’s stealth superstar
By Slim Smith, Tribune
In an effort to ease crowding during today’s opening round of the Safeway International at Superstition Mountain Golf and Country Club in Gold Canyon, the LPGA Tour has asked me to provide the following information:
Annika Sorenstam will go off the No. 10 tee at 11:45 a.m.
Michelle Wie will go off the No. 10 tee at 1:35 p.m.
Everyone else in the field will go off clothed only in Victoria’s Secret apparel.
There are 144 players in the field, but one story line: Annika vs. Michelle. The Now of women’s golf vs. the Future of women’s golf.
The events of the past 10 months demand that our attention focus laser-like on these two. In May, at the PGA Tour’s Bank of America Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas, Sorenstam almost proved that, under just the right circumstances, a woman can complete on the PGA Tour. In January, Wie missed the cut by a shot at the PGA Tour’s Sony Open in Hawaii, frightening the bejeebers out of a host of tour players who faced the indignity of not just being beaten by a 14-year-old, but being beaten by a 14-year-old girl.
With the heart rates on the PGA Tour having returned to normal, Sorenstam and Wie meet today on a more conventional field of battle — the LPGA Tour.
Now, if only Se Ri Pak will cooperate.
Pak is to the Sorenstam-Wie rivalry what the Philadelphia 76ers of the late 1970s and early 1980s were to the Lakers-Celtics rivalry: Every time you get ready for Magic vs. Larry, Dr. J was always out there, threatening to spoil the party.
Don’t be surprised if Pak gums up the works this week.
Pak finds herself in the unique position of being the defending champion at a tournament played at a course she has never played. Last year, Pak held off former Arizona State All-American Grace Park to win the event at Moon Valley Country Club. With the tournament relocated to Gold Canyon, Pak’s status as champion is largely ceremonial.
And virtually ignored, thanks to the presence of Sorenstam and Wie.
Pak isn’t getting all huffy about what some athletes might view as a snub.
In fact, she’s pretty much used to the treatment on this side of the Pacific.
Back home in South Korea, she is the country’s most popular female athlete ("even 3, 4 years old, they recognize me,’’ she says).
Here?
This is all you need to know: The LPGA’s promotional calendar for the 2004 season featured six players. Annika, obviously, was on the poster. But so were Park, Laura Diaz, Cristie Kerr, Natalie Gulbis and Beth Bauer, who have seven wins among them.
But not Pak, even after a season in which she won the Vare Trophy for scoring average, finished second on the money list and — with three more tour wins — moved to within a point of becoming eligible for the Hall of Fame.
Someone at the LPGA came to their senses, and the most recent version of the poster includes Pak, who bumped Bauer off it.
But the poster situation suggests that Pak may be an afterthought, even among LPGA officials.
The reasons revolve mainly around two things: language and culture. Both make her hard to promote, harder to identify with.
Even after six years on the tour, Pak still struggles with her English. It is a factor compounded by her basic shyness and her struggles with adapting to western culture.
This was especially true in her early years on the tour. When she joined the tour in 1998, she was one of just two Korean players. Today, there are 21 Koreans, including five rookies.
"The language is different, the food is different. Everything different,’’ she said Wednesday. "And the other things is just you (are) pretty much lonely, you know? . . . That’s a big, hard time for myself to be, you know, being (by) myself. I mean, I really want to be strong friends and I love to talk to someone, but it’s so scared because I can’t speak.’’
It is a testament to Pak’s strength of character that she not only survived the isolation of those early years, but thrived. She won the McDonald’s LPGA Championship as a rookie, her first major. Since then, she has added 20 more victories and three more major titles.
Her stated goal is to supplant Sorenstam’s as the LPGA’s top player. That goal achieved, she’ll worry about Wie when the time comes.
That someone could be so bold as to challenge Sorenstam’s record of excellence or Wie’s seemingly limitless promise seems, at first, brash.
But then you consider Pak’s record. And, as she points out, "I (am) still 26 years old. (I have) many game of golf left for myself. So I only think of No. 1 spot.’’
Which means she has no concern for mucking up today’s story line.
Sorry about that.
