Highlights and Lowlights

It seems like a long time ago, but really it wasn't. Just five months ago, Se Ri Pak pulled off what was, for her, a rather typical feat at the time. Lurking behind other stars at the Michelob Ultra tournament for three rounds, but just close enough to be dangerous, she suddenly turned on the jets on Sunday and blew past the others like they were standing still. In a matter of a couple hours, she wrested the title from the hands of Lorena Ochoa and Cristie Kerr, and with her 22nd win on the LPGA tour, gained the final point needed for her to qualify for the Hall of Fame. It had taken a bit longer than anyone had anticipated; after winning at a clip of roughly once every six tournaments for the previous three years, in the middle of 2003, she suddenly stalled, winning only once in the latter half of the year, then taking several more events in 2004 before she collected that all important victory in Virginia. Her two longest winless stretches since the 2000 season both occurred during that time, but one had a hard time crying, for almost every finish during that period was a top ten. She was still clearly the best player in the world who was not named Sorenstam.

Se Ri's greatest moment? Collecting her
22nd win in May

Se Ri missed the cut at the Sybase Classic

Se Ri played well at the Farr, although most of
the rest of the time, she wondered why
her ball was not behaving like it should...

After the Hall of Fame win, she went to Korea, where she had a less than thrilling defense of her X-Canvas win on the KLPGA tour. Still, it was another top ten, and it was fairly typical of Se Ri to slow down a bit when she played too much golf. And indeed, when she returned to America and promptly missed her next cut, well, that too was not entirely unexpected. Again, jet lag, playing too many tournaments, trying too hard to please her fans and her sponsors; these things had bitten her before, and here it seemed they had done so again.

But then she missed the next cut as well, something she had not done since her second year on tour. Her driving, which had been suspect for the previous year, suddenly got noticeably worse even than it had been. Coming as it did just before the most important events of the year, this turn of events was not a good sign at all.

Over the next few months, Se Ri hit a stretch of futility unprecedented in her career. She wouldn't miss any more cuts, but nonetheless, she did not produce so much as a single top ten. And some of her performances were positively painful. She could put together a good round, then come out the next day and play so poorly you could scarcely believe it was the same golfer. No event was more dire than the Evian. On a course where she co-held the course record, a 64, she shot an 81, the second worse score of her illustrious career, en route to a dismal 68th place finish.

Se Ri managed a brief respite at her favorite course in Toledo, Ohio. A four time champion at the Jamie Farr, she very nearly won for a fifth time, finishing second and briefly raising the hopes of everyone that she had returned to form. But soon afterwards, it was back to the mediocre, and occasionally terrible. By this point, her driving was so bad that it was off the scale. At times, she was struggling to hit even 50% of her fairways off the tee. Her scoring average was more than a stroke higher than 2003. Finally tired of all of this, she took an extended break from the tour, hoping to regain her confidence in the time off.

The Samsung Championship was Se Ri's first chance to test herself since the break, and unfortunately, I can say without reservation, having watched Se Ri for seven seasons, that it was the single worst tournament she has ever played to date (and let's hope there aren't still worse ones on the horizon). She seemed confident talking to reporters before the event, and the course seemed to be one that would help her out: with generous fairways, even if she was a little off line, she should still have been able to score.

The problem was that she was more than a little off line, she was a lot off line. Playing with Grace Park on the first day, she immediately hit her first drive into the desert and made a bogey. All told, she was three over par after just four holes, and was just like that in last place. She rallied somewhat after that, climbing all the way back to even par, but then ran into more missed fairways on the back nine. Eventually, she ended up with a 2 over par 74, the second worst round of the day. She had managed to hit a miserable five fairways all day, and just ten greens in regulation. In short, it was a nightmare of a debut. But one could chalk that up to rustiness. Certainly, her swing still looked fantastic; even the commentators on the show marveled at it when they watched it. But none of that matters if you can't keep the ball straight.

On Friday, she improved somewhat, but not enough to make her jump for joy. This time she had managed a still mind bogglingly weak 7 fairways and 13 greens. As a result, she broke par, but still found herself near the bottom of the standings. Even a top ten at this point looked like a forlorn hope. Unfortunately for her, things were about to get much much worse.

Se Ri's swing sure looked promising before
the Samsung

Se Ri spent a lot of time on the weekend hitting
balls out of moonscapes like this...

... though at times her swing still looked majestic

Saturday might quite possibly have been the nadir of Se Ri Pak's entire career. She has shot worse rounds before, it is true. But the 82 she shot at last year's US Women's Open was on a very hard course, and the 81 at the Evian came on a day when not everyone else was going low. On Saturday, Se Ri shot an 80. It was the third time in a little over a year that she had shot in the 80's; before that, she had never done so as an LPGA pro. Once again, she hit a paltry 7 fairways, and this time did not hit even half of her greens. It was a debacle in every sense of the word. Although she was barely mentioned on the broadcast, they showed a brief shot of her with Colin during the end credits. She had a look of utter despair on her face, while Colin patted her back. Give her credit for even coming back on Sunday to face another round of torture, for by this time, she was not only in last place, she was so far back that even a score in the low 60s might not be enough to get her out of the cellar.

Needless to say, a score in the low 60s was not what she got. Instead, she shot another horrendous round, a 6 over par 78. When all was said and done, she finished an unbelievable 15 shots behind the second to last person in the field. Think about that; not 15 shots behind the leader, 15 shots behind the next to last place finisher!! Se Ri Pak did this. To call this result stunning is to not even scratch the surface. It's downright debilitating. And the other stats were just as sad: 26 fairways hit all week. That's less than half, on a fairly wide open course. Only 40 greens hits, or 55%. This from a woman who has routinely been in the top three in greens in regulation the last few years, around 72 - 74% during that span. Everywhere you looked, there was bad news.

It was such a stunning development that the people covering the Samsung actually did something I had never seen before. They took time out from celebrating Michelle Wie and Annika, and dedicated a few minutes to talking about Se Ri's plight. Se Ri had told the reporter that her driver was acting up, but that her real problem was that she was plain burned out. She revealed a startling fact: since she took up golf, she had never spent more than four days away from the game. That's in the last 13 years, folks. But she was determined, with the help of her family and friends, to take at least five weeks off during the off season. It couldn't happen a minute too soon.

When she flew home the next day, she met her father at the airport. The pictures say it all: she hugged him close to her, glad to have his support. Gone was the stern taskmaster who had driven her to her success; in his place was a caring parent. She even cried a little, something Se Ri rarely does in public. Se Ri still has a couple of events to play this year, including a Japanese tour event and a Skins Game as well as the two Far East LPGA events. But then it will be her time to relax and regroup.

So whither Se Ri Pak? Is this it for her, as far as being a top player is concerned? Quite frankly, I believe anyone who says that doesn't know Se Ri Pak. The one thing that most impresses about this young lady is her resilience. She has already gone through at least two crippling downturns in her brief career, and recovered from both. If Se Ri wants it, she will find a way to do it again. Se Ri's career, like many of her tournament wins, has never been smooth. There have always been bumps, but she has found a way to adapt and overcome. In short, this is one tough lady. But whether the worst is over, or whether there is more tumult and trauma to come, well, that's something we can only wait and see. For her sake, let's hope the worst is over.

Even in her most humiliating moment, Se Ri was still
able to manage a smile or two...