SE RI PAK 1998 Champion

Birthdate: 9/28/1977
Birthplace: Daejeon, Korea, Republic of
Residence: Orlando, FL
Rookie Year: 1998
Tour Status: Exempt
International Player
Tour victories: 15
Career Highlights
2001 -- Won a career-best five tournaments: YourLife Vitamins LPGA Classic by four shots, to mark her first victory in exactly 14 months; Longs Drugs Challenge; Jamie Farr Kroger Classic Presented by ALLTEL for the third time in four years; Weetabix Women's British Open, her third major championship title; and AFLAC Champions Presented by Southern Living. Posted a total of 12 top-10 finishes (five runner-up and two third-place finishes), including a second-place finish at the U.S. Women's Open; lost to Annika Sorenstam in the final match of the CISCO World Ladies Match Play Championship to finish second. Recorded a season-low 62 during the Jamie Farr Kroger Classic Presented by ALLTEL. Crossed the $3 million mark in career earnings on July 8 after the Jamie Farr Classic and the $4 million mark after her runner-up finish at the World Ladies Match Play Championship. Earned a career-best in single-season earnings of $1,623,009 and recorded a career-low scoring average of 69.69.
2000 -- Best finish was third place at the Jamie Farr Kroger Classic; also tied for third at the McDonald's LPGA Championship, one of the LPGA Tour's four major championships.
1999 -- Posted a wire-to-wire win at the ShopRite LPGA Classic; successfully defended her title at the Jamie Farr Kroger Classic, where she won a six-way playoff; won both the Samsung World Championship of Women's Golf and PageNet Championship, which was decided on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff with Laura Davies and Karrie Webb.
1998 -- Ran away with Rolex Rookie of the Year; her closest competitor was Janice Moodie, who was 904 points behind; actually clinched the title nine weeks before the end of the season, following her fourth-place finish at the First Union Betsy King Classic on Sept. 27. In her first major championship as an LPGA professional, went wire-to-wire to capture the McDonald's LPGA Championship title, becoming the first rookie since Liselotte Neumann to win a major as her first Tour victory; in her second major championship, became the youngest player to win the U.S. Women's Open after a 20-hole playoff (18-hole playoff followed by two holes of sudden-death with amateur Jenny Chuasiriporn); the 92-hole tournament was the longest in women's professional golf history; joined Juli Inkster as the only LPGA players to capture two modern major championships in their rookie seasons; one of six players to win the LPGA Championship and U.S. Women's Open in the same year (Sandra Haynie won both in 1974; Meg Mallon, 1991; Mickey Wright, 1961 and 1958; Inkster, 1999; and Webb, 2001); six days after the U.S. Women's Open, won the Jamie Farr Kroger Classic to become only the third player in LPGA history to win a tournament immediately following a victory at the U.S. Women's Open (Jane Geddes won the U.S. Women's Open in 1986 and then the Boston Five Classic the very next week; Louise Suggs won the U.S. Open in 1952 and then the All-American Women Championship the very next week); two weeks later, won the Giant Eagle LPGA Classic; winner of the 1998 Mercury LPGA Series Bonus Pool.
1996-97 -- Competed on the Korea LPGA Tour and won six tournaments.
Amateur -- Pak won 30 tournaments in Korea as an amateur. She was a track star in high school. She moved to the United States in 1997.
Personal -- 5'6", black hair, brown eyes...Started playing golf at the age of 14...Credits her father as the individual most influencing her career.