S. Korea's three veteran LPGA stars paired together for first time

By Yoo Jee-ho
INCHEON, Oct. 7 (Yonhap) -- There was a time when the names Pak Se-ri, Kim Mi-hyun and Grace Park were synonymous with South Korean golf. Starting in the late 1990s and into the next decade, the three blazed the trail for a younger generation of South Korean stars, battling Hall of Famers like Annika Sorenstam and Karrie Webb for female golfing supremacy and inspiring girls to pick up golf clubs. Over their illustrious careers, Pak, Kim and Park have a combined 39 victories.
But times have changed, and the three aren't nearly as dominant as before. Still, in the first round of the LPGA Hana Bank Championship here Friday, fans were taken back in time, as Pak, Kim and Park were placed in the same group. It marked the first time that the three played a competitive round together.
Kim put up the best score among the three, shooting a four-under 68 at the par-72 Ocean Course of the Sky72 Golf Club. Park, whose Korean first name is Ji-eun, birdied the 18th to finish at 69. Pak struggled with her swing all day and managed only a 76.



Kim missed makeable birdie putts on the first and the second hole, but had her first birdie on the par-5 fifth. That was all she needed to get untracked.
"I missed early putts, and after that, I thought to myself, maybe it wasn't going to work today," Kim said after the round. "But my putting stroke got better. On the par-5 seventh, I made a birdie from about 15 feet, and then I got more confident with my short game."
When she wasn't working on her putting stroke, Kim chatted with her playing partners.
"I had a good time. It felt like back when we played junior golf," Kim, 34, said. "We talked a lot to each other. It was fun to play with them."
Park, the youngest of the three at 32, said it was "a pleasure" for her to be joining the two veterans.
"I'd like to thank the organizers for giving us that opportunity to play together," Park said. "I don't usually get nervous before rounds, but today was different, because of all the attention on three of us. I really enjoy their company and it was exciting."
Park, a standout amateur while playing at Arizona State University, had an up-and-down round. She found water on the seventh and committed a bogey there, but scored a birdie on the tough closing hole, also a par-5.
Having battled injuries, Park is winless since 2004. Incidentally, her last win was this tournament when it was under a different corporate sponsorship.
"I finished the first round on a good note and got myself into a solid position," Park said. "Hopefully, I can finish well the rest of the way."
Pak, 34, didn't speak to the press after her disappointing round. After a solid start, Pak hit a poor bunker shot on the sixth en route to a bogey, and chunked her wedge from 120 yards out and ended with a double bogey on the seventh.
Pak, the first Korean and the youngest inductee into the World Golf Hall of Fame, last won on the tour in 2010. The young South Korean golfers winning on the LPGA Tour today are collectively called "Se-ri's Kids," for their decision to start playing golf after watching Pak win two majors in her rookie season in 1998.
jeeho@yna.co.kr
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