Cherry Hills Village – Se Ri Pak would like to go out with the girls. Hit a movie. Have a couple drinks. Girl talk. She wishes she had a boyfriend. She would like to go on a cruise. Somewhere. Anywhere. Just make sure whatever island the boat docks at doesn’t have a golf course.
“Everything is too much golf,” she said. “I never think about myself to be like a human being.”
Pak, 27, the LPGA Tour’s rookie sensation in 1998, is trying to find the balance in her life to keep her career from teetering off the radar as no Hall of Fame athlete ever has. From 1998, when she won the U.S. Open, to 2003 she won 21 times, including four majors, and more than $7.3 million.
In her past 23 tournaments she has missed the cut five times and withdrawn three times, and has only one top-10 finish.
Coming into Thursday’s opening round of the U.S. Women’s Open at Cherry Hills Country Club, her top finish this year is a tie for 27th. In the third round of the ShopRite LPGA Classic in Galloway Township, N.J., on June 4, she shot an 85 and walked off the course in tears.
This was a woman in need of a beach chair overlooking the Caribbean. Or a strong drink. So what does she do to relax now?
“Talk on the phone with my agent,” she said with a laugh. The good news is agent Jay Burton is working on a cruise for her. Pak has already taken the first few steps toward the boat, and the laugh proves it.
Her steps were the conclusion that her life doesn’t have to revolve around a little dimpled ball. Pak realizes she doesn’t have to judge herself by whether there’s a black number (over par) or a red number (below par) next to her name on the leaderboard.
“She’s finally realizing it’s not the destination,” Burton said. “It’s the journey.”
Watching her after practice this week, you would think her biggest stress was whether to order red or white wine at dinner. She posed for pictures with children. She hugged players hello. She laughed with fellow South Koreans who are in the field this week. Her smile never faded.
She didn’t act like a former superstar who had won only $35,140 this year, 102nd on the money list. In her eighth year on the tour, Pak is learning from her competitors.
“They’re having their own great life,” she said. “Most players are much more relaxed. Like off the golf course, a couple of friends go for a drink or a couple players go to dinner together. I’m just being with myself or my family or best couple of friends.”
She is asked if they ever invite her. “Yeah,” she said. “I always say, ‘Well, I still have to work more.’ I’m still working on the range until late in the evening. I’m tired so I go back to my room, eat quick, that kind of stuff. That’s not what you want. That’s not what I want, either. I didn’t realize that. My life was stuck. Now when players ask me to dinner, well, why not?”
After all, it couldn’t hurt. Even the guy trying to correct her swing agrees.
“I think she needs to (find balance),” said her coach, Tom Creavy. “I’ve not seen her do it to this point. There’s a lot of talk about it. It’s been a problem, I think, not being able to put golf in perspective.”
Then again, how could she, after winning four majors by the time she was 24? Pak was second on the money list to Annika Sorenstam from 2001-03, then faded to 11th last year and oblivion this year. Not coincidentally, her demise began after she earned enough points for the LPGA Hall of Fame with last year’s win at the Michelob Ultra Open on May 9, her last victory. She missed the next two cuts.
“She was like, ‘Now what do I do?”‘ Burton said. “That’s what I admire about Annika. She had to do the same thing. She reset her goals and did it. The Hall of Fame, to Annika, was just one of many things she wants to accomplish. While with Se Ri, it was like her only thing.”
Pak was told she seemed pretty bubbly for having such an awful year. Again, she smiled, showing that light at the end of the tunnel may be a sunset over the Bahamas.
“If you asked me a month ago,” she said, “it was like, ‘I just want to go home.”‘
John Henderson can be reached at 303-820-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
