2003 Korean Women's Open: Summer Vacation

The Korean Women's Open is arguably the biggest event on the KLPGA schedule every year. It usually attracts not only a few of the Korean superstars from the LPGA back home to play, but also a few other top world pros as well. In 2002, and for many years past, the event had taken place in the Spring. Se Ri Pak made it an annual ritual to travel back home at that time of the year, in part to play the Open. And every year since joining the LPGA, she was frustrated in her attempts to win the big prize. In 2000, it was current LPGA up and comer Soo-Yun Kang who walked off with the trophy, beating not only Se Ri but also Annika Sorenstam in the process.

Last year, Se Ri returned to Korea in the hopes of at last winning the Korean Open and thus her first event in Korea since joining the American tour. It was one of the last events she attended as a Sponsoree of Samsung, and the corporation made sure they got their money's worth out of her. She appeared at numerous publicity events, some with fellow Samsung pro Juli Inkster, including a humorous putting demonstration at the Lotte Hotel in downtown Seoul that Inkster mischievously did her best to disrupt. The event itself, however, proved to be a bit of a letdown for Se Ri. Though she did notch a top ten, it was top KLPGA pro Il Mi Chung who walked off with the trophy, while Juli Inkster and Gloria Park also managed top finishes. Se Ri would have to wait another year for a crack at this elusive title.

In 2002, Se Ri and Juli Inkster played the
Korean Women's Open. Here, Juli gives unwelcome
assistance to Se Ri during a putting demonstration at
the Lotte Hotel in Seoul.

Se Ri couldn't come to the Korean Open this year,
due to the schedule change. So she won the
X-Canvas event instead.

Later in the year, of course, Se Ri did finally break her jinx of not winning in Korea by taking the title at the inaugural CJ Nine Bridges Classic in Cheju Island. This event was co-sponsored by the KLPGA and the LPGA, so it wasn't a true, 100% KLPGA event. So in 2003, Se Ri again intended to travel to Korea in the Spring to give the Korean Women's Open another shot.

But a couple of things came up that made this difficult. The SARS epidemic in Asia, coupled with sponsorship issues, forced the KLPGA to move the Korean Open to September. Se Ri still came back in May, though, and played in the KLPGA event that happened to be taking place then, the X-Canvas Open. And like the star she is, she took that title, her first pure KLPGA win since coming to America. But she had no intention of coming to Korea to play a second time in 2003, so this year she would not be at the Korean Women's Open to lend her star power to the event.

Fortunately for the tournament organizers, they were able to get several other Korean stars to commit to play. Grace Park, who in 2003 has been second only to Se Ri as far as the Korean go, agreed to play for the first time. She was joined by breakout star Hee-Won Han, who sat fourth on the LPGA money list, and Soo-Yun Kang, having a very successful year in America herself. Joining them was Aree Song, who had just turned pro. This would be her first event as a professional. As if that weren't enough, young American players Beth Bauer and Catherine Cartwright committed to play, continuing the tradition of including international stars in the field. It promised to be an exciting week.

As often happens when the Korean players come home, they are given a lot of exposure in the press, and this time was no exception. What follows is a brief overview of the week they had over there.

Grace had been in Korea not too long before. She had filmed her first ever TV commercial, for Pantene Shampoo, and admitted that it was quite a challenging affair. "I tell ya, I learned to appreciate golf so much more. That is what I am good at", she told her fans on the LPGA web site. Hee-Won, meanwhile, had not been home since her recent emergence as a true force on the LPGA tour. Fans were particularly interested in seeing her because she and her fiancee had recently announced that they were to be married in December. The paparazzi (or whatever the Korean equivalent is) were doubtless drooling at the chance to get photos of the two of them together.

Hee-Won got a big greeting at the airport when she
returned to Korea last week