Se Ri Pak's Tour Diary

As originally written by Se Ri Pak for Joong Ang Ilbo. Translation by LoveGiants

Diary Entry #13: Through Hard Training, I've Hardened My Mentality

Father was often worried that I endured all without complaining, however harsh that might be. So one day he asked me, "Why do you play golf? Because I forced you to?" He wondered if I was abnormal. But, on the contrary, I wondered why he asked me this. "No, I like golf, that's all."

I've hardened my mentality and my desire for victory through hard training. I wanted to become a strong player both in body and in spirit. I'm confident of my physical strength, but I do not stop training for even a single day.

What Leadbetter emphasizes is also mentality based upon physical strength. I have not been ill since I started golf. Mother has worried about my health, because I haven't stop training for rest for a single day. Once the training started, neither father nor I uttered the word, 'break'. I waited for father to say the word and father waited for me to. What makes me calm in a critical moment is the confidence I've earned through hard training.

I believed that to be a world-class player, I should be an all-weather player. I didn't want to be a golfer who played well in good weather but played terribly in bad weather. So I practiced more when the weather was terrible. On every summer day when it thundered and the lightning flashed, I would leave for the course through the rainstorm. Father said, "You're much more determined than I." I checked how the wind affected my distance and the direction of the ball. Whenever I played a round on the course in these conditions, I would keep playing for over 4 hours. On such days, I was wet to the bone. When it rained hard, there was no one out there except me, so I could practice what I felt I needed to improve. When I look back upon those days, it was too dangerous a thing to play a round on a stormy day. Anyway, I was lucky that I wasn't struck by lightning.

One summer day in 1992, I came home, also wet to the bone after playing a round in hard rain. Water dropped from me and my caddie bag. I was so tired that I couldn't take a shower. I fell onto the bed and fell asleep. The next morning, I found my golf clubs arranged tidily. Father said with a severe look, "Those clubs are as precious
as your life for you, a golfer." After that, I've made a rule to polish and arrange my clubs before I go to bed. And I put them within reach. Now I feel comfortable with my clubs. I cannot sleep well if the clubs are not visible from where I lie.

Diary Entry #14: Money Woes

Now I'm leaving for Canada. The press still talks about my four victories, but I've already forgotten them. I'm only thinking of the Du Maurier, the last major event of the year. The victories I've won are my father's, the victories I will win will be mine. Whenever I won a tournament, I asked father, "Father, are you happy?" When I won the LPGA Championship, I asked him by telephone.

When I feel that I've finally won, I imagine Father's face. Father feels happy when I win, and I want to make him happy.

When I lived in Korea, to dream of being a golfer meant to spend as much money as one could buy a house with. When I entered high school, all we had was about 10,000,000 won or so (about $8,000). "We were almost reduced to beggary" father says, now smiling. Mother sold structural materials to make a living, but she didn't make much.

We were short of money, so father had to beg his friends for money. The expense of playing golf was limitless. People said that I was a good daughter, but I felt that father was a good father. He had to beg for money door to door. He got the eye. "If you cannot afford to make your daughter a golfer, then why try?" We could not afford to eat meals at the clubhouse with other players, so we had to eat meals in the employee's cafeteria. Ever since I first participated in an event, when I was in my 2nd year in middle school, father and I had used the employee's cafeteria, filled with distress.

When a player's parents ate a meal with other players' parents, it was customary for the new player's parents to treat them all. Of course, we could not afford to do it. Each time father waited for the future, and I pledged, "I'll be sure to succeed and make him happy."

Our dream came true little by little. I won my first victory in an event for middle school and high school students when I was in my 3rd year in middle school. There's an amusing anecdote about the event. Father took me to the clubhouse quickly just before the event began. He showed me the trophy. He said, "Hold it." "But someone will scold me" I replied, scared. Father took the trophy and said, "It'll be yours in two days." I held the trophy in my arms. And sure enough, the trophy became mine.

By winning the event, we became better known. Father squared his shoulders and people began to notice us. Some parents said that they would treat us to meals. I became more and more confident. And in the same year, in 1992, I won the Lyle and Scott Open, beating Won, the number 1 golfer in the KLPGA. Finally I became known to the whole country.

I can still remember that every newspaper wrote that a promising rookie has appeared on the KLPGA. And the physical education teacher who had wanted me to be a shot putter, finally gave up.