Pak Se-ri "Three Consecutive Wins to Enter Hall of Fame”

“I will shake off the disappointment of losing the money prize title by winning three consecutive times in a single tour.”

Pak Se-ri (CJ) is challenging to win the U.S. LPGA Tour Tournament of Champions for the third straight year, taking place on November 14 with a $750,000 purse at stake.

Only six players have won an LPGA Tour event three straight times in U.S. LPGA Tour history. Three players including Louise Suggs, Catherine Witwars and Sandra Haney are retired and the three active players are Annika Sorenstam (Sweden), Lora Davis (England) and Karrie Webb (Australia).

In this tour, in which only active players can participate among the regular tour winners over the last three years and among active hall of fame members, a total of 31 players will compete. The total number of victories for these players amounts to 250 including 32 victories in major tours as this tournament is being referred to as “Star Wars.” Among those players, there are six players including “The Van” Pak Se-ri and “Cinderella” Ahn Shi-hyun which constitute the “Korean Corps.”

To Pak Se-ri, who took second place three times in the last four tours, winning this tour means more than just another victory.

If she wins this tour for three consecutive times, she can obtain the necessary 27 points to enter the hall of fame. She almost clinched the Bear Trophy (the lowest average scoring award) point (by 1 point) due to Annika Sorenstam’s lack of participation in the tournament this season. Pak Se-ri has a great chance of winning, especially since Sorenstam is not expected to play.

Another reason for the high possibility of Pak’s third consecutive victory is that the course, Robert Trent Jones Rail GC (par 72, Mobile Alabama) is made for Pak. In 2001, Pak hit a 16-under par, 272 strokes to break the former course record by 1 stroke which Webb had held. Last year, Pak scored a 20-under par, 268 strokes to win for the second consecutive time.

Pak’s huge obstacle of setting a grand record (three consecutive winning) might be from the “Korean Corps” itself as she was beaten by rookie Ahn Shi-hyun at the CJ Nine Bridges Classic. As ill luck would have it, Park Ji-eun (Nike Golf), who also took second place in the last four tours with Pak Se-ri, and maintains the peak of shot senses, would be her toughest competitor. And, with “nothing to lose” Ahn Shi-hyun shows us an awesome “uninterested whipping stroke.”

This game takes place without a cut-off for four days. The SBS Golf channel will broadcast it live at 4 a.m. everyday from November 14- 17.

Young-Sik Ahn ysahn@donga.com