Se Ri Pak's Tour Diary

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

Diary Entry #16: After the First Win in High School

When a tournament is over, I feel completely absent-minded whether I've won the tournament or not. I spend some time alone in a plane heading for the next tournament, holding Happy in my arms. It helps me overcome that state.

I often read articles about me in newspapers, but nowadays I cannot read them all, because there are too many. I cannot believe that I, 'just a promising young golfer of the KLPGA', have become this famous in just 6 years. The time when I was ignored because I looked boorish is not that long ago. When I won the '92 Lyle and Scott Open, the stiff-necked parents of the other players started to admit that I was a talented player, and father didn't have to eat alone in the employee's restaurant any more. The men of the press were busy lighting flash bulbs. The celebrity in those days was slight compared with that of nowadays, but we felt much better.

I recall father's smiling face in those days. He was all smiles saying that, "Se Ri, those who ignored me now come to me and greet me." At that time, some people in Yuseong started to organize a supporters' association for me to help me. I cannot mention all of their names, but I'll return their favors some day.

In '92, I also won a tournament for middle and high school girls, the Korea Women's Open, and Ildong Super Series. When I won the four tournaments, the press started to make me a star. Father as my coach became more strict, afraid that I might become arrogant. The early morning running, hitting 1000 balls, and stepping stairs were still repeated everyday. My only vacation was during the tournaments.

Through the tournaments, I got such nicknames as 'super girl', and 'awful (!?) child'.

The winter of my third year in high school, I made up my mind to become a pro, and Samsung offered me an unexpected contract. The meeting with Samsung gave me wings to fly high.

Diary Entry #17: The Meeting with Samsung

It seems that many people wonder about the conclusion of contract money with Samsung. How it will be concluded is my father's business and I appreciate Samsung.

I met Samsung when I participated in the Korea women's amateur championship in my 3rd year in high school. Ho-mun An, in charge of the Samsung golf team, and Hwan-sik Chung picked me up. Chung came to the Gold golf resort in Kiheung during the tournament and asked father to talk. Father rejected his demand because he was focusing all his attention on the tournament, telling him, "Let's talk about it after the tournament, not now." Later, Chung said that he had been a little embarrassed then. But he finally understood my father's attitude because he also had been a soccer player. He could understand why father had focused all his attention on the tournament.

Chung waited for us for 4 hours, and when we finally met, he presented some unprecedented conditions. He said that to make me a world class player, Samsung would support me unsparingly. According to Chung, Gun-hee Lee, the group owner, was an enthusiastic lover of golf and thought that the Korean golfers had enough competitive power to become world class, so Lee directed him to look for promising young golfers. Samsung at first selected several players like Ted Oh, who was a promising golfer in the US, but in the end, they concluded that female golfers had more chance of success than male golfers, so they picked me.

Also, there's a rumor that Samsung managed its business with fighting spirit, standing for the first-class spirit, and that its working principle tallied with my desire for victory and fighting spirit.

Anyway, we were not in a good situation in those days. Father tried to provide me with what little money he could, and I was not satisfied with the KLPGA. I wanted to fly in a wider field.

Samsung offered money for participating in events and training in addition to contract money and an annual salary, and also promised to employ me as soon as I graduated from high school. Father looked even happier than I. Not just because of the money, but because his way of training me had won recognition from the public.

I made an official contract with Samsung in Lotte Hotel in Seoul on October 17, 1995 (? - the date she gave was 1997, but that can't be right - HappyFan). Samsung also offered a luxurious apartment house in Bundang (near Seoul). That night father said in an excited voice, "Se Ri, now you have made it. Now you have a chance to challenge the world." One year later, on December 19, 1996, I signed a new contract with Samsung. The contract paid me 800,000,000 won, an annual salary of 100,000,000 won for 10 years with the condition that it also should give me the chance to get training under David Leadbetter, who had trained many world class golfers, such as Nick Faldo and Nick Price. Samsung assumed that I would win a major in about 5 years. On January 17, 1997, I finally departed in a plane for the US.