Se Ri Pak’s Legendary Career: An Extraordinary Mark Made on the LPGA


Photography by Stanley Chou/Getty Images Sport/Getty Images and Andy Lyons/Getty Images Sport/Getty Images

Se Ri Pak was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2007 for her stellar playing career that featured 25 career LPGA victories including five major titles.

But as BIGHORN Member Pak retired from the game at 38 this summer, it would be fitting if she was inducted into the Hall again for her influence on the game. Because starting with her first LPGA win at the 1998 LPGA Championship, Pak literally changed the very fabric of the LPGA.

Pak’s breakout 1998 season, with four wins and two major championships, exposed her native South Korea to LPGA golf. As Pak continued to win LPGA events, thousands of Korean girls watched and dreamed of following the trailblazing Pak’s example. For names like Inbee Park and Jiyai Shin, who each became the No. 1 player in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, and dozens of others who have played the LPGA, Pak was a role model, an idol and a mentor. She was Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson and Michael Jordan in a 5-foot-6 package.

Pak retired after the 2016 U.S. Women’s Open, the championship that was the crowning victory of her 1998 season. She walked away from the game as not only a Hall of Fame player but as a bridge between two cultures and a figure who fundamentally changed the LPGA.

Se Ri Pak’s Impressive LPGA Tour Victories (majors in bold):

  • 1998 – McDonald’s LPGA Championship, U.S. Women’s Open, Jamie Farr Kroger Classic, Giant Eagle LPGA Classic
  • 1999 – ShopRite LPGA Classic, Jamie Farr Kroger Classic, Samsung World Championship of Women’s Golf, PageNet Championship
  • 2001 – YourLife Vitamins LPGA Classic, Longs Drugs Challenge, Jamie Farr Kroger Classic, Weetabix Women’s British Open, AFLAC Champions
  • 2002 – The Office Depot Championship, McDonald’s LPGA Championship, First Union Betsy King Classic, Mobile LPGA Tournament of Champions, Sports Today CJ Nines Bridges Classic
  • 2003 – Safeway PING, Chick-fil-A Charity Championship, amie Farr Kroger Classic
  • 2004 – Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill
  • 2006 – McDonald’s LPGA Championship
  • 2007 – Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic
  • 2010 – Bell Micro LPGA Classic

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