Fairways and Greens

Se Ri at the US Women's Open

Se Ri given final exemption into Match Play Championship
Se Ri Pak has had a hard time of it this season, as you all know. So hard a time that she wasn't even in the top 60 golfers on tour when the deadline for qualifying for the first officially sanctioned LPGA Match Play event in three years came and went, following the Wegman's Rochester LPGA. When she finished 35th there (she would have needed a top 5 in Rochester to qualify), the only way she could have gotten into the field would have been via one of the two sponsor's exemptions, or by winning the US Women's Open. Well, she didn't win the Open, but in the middle of the week, it was announced that she would be given the second exemption into the event (the first one went to a Japanese amateur). Fortunately for Se Ri, they decided not to seed her 64th, which would have put her against Annika Sorenstam in the first round. Instead, she was seeded 17th, and will be facing the tough Rachel Hetherington, who is also having an off year, in her initial match. Good luck to her! Here's hoping she makes the most of her opportunity!

Grace Park Documentary: the Inside Scoop
A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I recently helped the producer of a documentary on Grace Park with some research. As a reward, I not only got a credit in the production (very cool!), but also a free copy of the documentary on pristine DVD. I'm not sure when it will be airing here, but look out for it sometime soon on the Golf Channel in the States.

The Documentary is called "Spirit of Golf: A Model Golfer: Grace Park", and was produced at the behest of Rolex, who apparently has an entire series of these documentaries that they make. Since Grace is one of their sponsorees, she would make a natural choice for them. It's a half hour long, and chock full of goodies for Grace fans. Apparently Ms. Olivia Herriott-Walker, the director, sat down and talked with Grace for more than two hours, and even went to Korea in her quest to document the life and times of Ms. Park.

Below are **spoilers** about what you will see in the doc. If you don't want to know, please skip ahead to the next article!

We get to see Grace's walk-in closet (you just knew she had one, didn't you?) in Phoenix. She reveals that her favorite color is.... pink. (I bet you thought it would be black!). She even had pink clubs as a kid! We get footage of the infamous Pantene shampoo she did in Korea a few years ago. She reveals that the pond water at the Nabisco was 'stinky'. Footage of the inside of Grace's parents' restaurant, Samwon Garden. And the startling revelation that her English name might have, in part, been based on the fact that her parents owned a minivan called Grace (that is, that was the model name). We go on a shopping trip with her, and she jokes about stopping in at Victoria's Secret (OK, all you guys, get your minds out of the gutter! She doesn't actually go in there. At least not while the cameras were rolling!). Plus guest appearances from Se Ri Pak and Shi Hyun Ahn. How can you lose?

Lastly, I'll leave you with this cute exchange. She is shown practicing on the range with her coach, Peter Kostis. Kostis is commenting about Grace's game, and saying that there is a lot of pressure on her to improve in 2005. She stops practicing, turns around and jokingly retorts, 'The pressure's on YOU!"

Grace limbers up at the US Open in her favorite color!

Na Yeon Choi

Choi wins on KLPGA
With all the talk about American teenage phenoms in golf lately, don't forget that there is still a long line of them coming out of Korea as well. One of the most promising is a young lady named Na Yeon Choi, who beat Se Ri last year at the ADT -KAPS Invitational, then promptly turned pro. She's on the KLPGA this year, and recently added to her haul by winning another KLPGA event. This was the Lakeside KLPGA event, held at roughly the same time as the ShopRite Classic here in the States. In these photos, you can see her at the event, and getting fitted with the winner's green jacket (yes, just like the Masters! Only with women and stuff). Congrats to her!

Money List
Birdie Kim's extraordinary, unbelievable, totally unexpected victory at the US Women's Open has vaulted her into the stratosphere. She pole vaults from 62nd into 6th place on the money list, and her life will never be the same again. Meanwhile, Gloria Park and Jeong Jang continued to have good seasons with more good finishes, and Mi Hyun Kim also notched a few more top tens to improve her money list position slightly.
And welcome back to Se Ri Pak, who has been absent from the top 100 for a while. She has doubled her year's money in the past few weeks, and is looking better for a return to greatness than she has all year. The other player to make a big move is Young Jo, who has become the top Korean rookie on tour as a result of her top ten at the Women's Open.