2003 Mobile Tournament of Champions:
Worn Out

Se Ri Pak is a great champion, but she has one weakness which she needs to find a way to overcome if she is ever to become the #1 player in the game.

That weakness is her understanding of herself, her strengths and her weaknesses. Simply put, she has a tendency to make schedules for herself that are unrealistic, that don't take into account what she will be able to do. And she frequently makes decisions which do not leave her with her best chance to be competitive.

This is hardly anything new. Back in 1998, when Se Ri first burst onto the scene, she managed to win three times in four tournaments. She also collected two Majors, and as a result, suddenly led the Player of the Year and Money list races. At that point, it would have been smart for her to carefully plan the rest of her season. The demands on her time were astronomical. Instead, she kept playing a very busy schedule, and as a result, she slowly got less and less impressive. By the time she reached the final Major of the year, a Major where a win would have made her the first rookie to ever capture three Majors in a single season, she was wasted, and could only manage a finish in the 40s. Eventually she returned to Korea, where the demands on her time became so intense she ended up in the hospital.

1998 was a year of great highs
and lows for Se Ri Pak

Se Ri really burned herself out at times
early in her career

Now, it is hard to blame Se Ri for all that. As a twenty year old, she was basically being stage managed by others: her sponsors, her parents, her coach, even the media had a say in how she would spend her time. Realizing that she needed to take charge of her life or risk burning out, she cleaned house, firing her manager and her coach and hiring a new management team to handle her schedule.

It was a bold move, but she made one mistake that was crucial. Se Ri was still too young to not have a full time coach. And she was a player who in particular benefited from having constant input from a coach regarding her swing and her game. The next two years, she only took intermittent lessons, and as a result, she slowly faded from the top of leaderboards. By 2000, she had an entire season where she could do no better than third place.

The problem she still seems to have to this day is scheduling. It does not take much analysis to see a pattern: Se Ri simply does not do very well when she plays four or more events in a row. And she also tends to play better at big events if she has an event beforehand to warm up. Two simple rules, but it is amazing how often in 2003 Se Ri violated them. And almost every time, she paid the price.

Se Ri started the season with two wins in seven starts. Then she traveled to Korea to play in an event, which she also won. However, this trip every year seem to coincide with a downturn in her fortunes, and this year was no different. Because she (or her sponsors) insisted on playing in this event, which was the last of a number of consecutive events, she was forced to skip a warm-up event for the LPGA Championship in order to rest. Bad idea. She ended up with her worst finish ever in that event. Another bit of questionable scheduling caused her to miss the warm-up tournament for the US Women's Open, and once again, she had a poor finish there.

Se Ri won 2 of her first 7 events of 2003