| South Florida Sun-Sentinel Jun. 30--Inbee Park remembers the night the seed was planted that would lead to her historic victory Sunday at the 63rd U.S. Women's Open. SAVE MONEY ON TRAVEL DEALS Ten years ago, sleeping in her bed in Pungdang outside Seoul, South Korea, she was jolted awake at 3 in the morning by the joyous howls of her parents. Just 9 years old, she staggered out of her room to see what the fuss was all about. Her mother, Sung Kim, and her father, Jungyu Park, were watching Se Ri Pak win the U.S. Women's Open at Blackwolf Run in Kohler, Wis. "When she made a putt, they were like screaming", Park said. "So I really could not sleep." Pak became the youngest winner in the history of the U.S. Women's Open that night at 20 years, 9 months and 8 days old. On Sunday, Pak's inspired effort led to another jolt across her homeland. With steely resolve, Park won the U.S. Women's Open in a four-shot rout. In doing so, Park supplanted Pak as the youngest winner in this championship's history. Park won at 19 years, 11 months and 17 days old. "I didn't know anything about golf back then", Park said of watching Pak. "It was very impressive for a girl just looking at her." The victory didn't just inspire Park. It inspired an entire nation of little girls. Two days after Pak's triumph, Park picked up a golf club for the first time. Thousands of South Korean girls were doing the same thing. They're blossoming now on the LPGA Tour. When Pak won the U.S. Women's Open, she was one of three exempt South Koreans on the LPGA Tour. There are 45 exempt South Koreans on the tour today. "I thought I could do it", said Park, who makes her home in Las Vegas, "so I picked up a golf club maybe a couple days later." With unshakeable resolve, Park closed with a 2-under-par 71, navigating all the trouble in swirling winds at Interlachen Country Club while the other contenders crumbled around her. She finished at 9-under 283 to claim her first LPGA Tour victory and a $585,000 first-place check. Two shots down when the day dawned, Park birdied the first two holes to seize a lead she would never surrender. Park chipped in from 20 yards at the first hole for her first birdie. She chipped to a foot at the second hole, tapping in for another. The only two players who started the final round ahead of Park stumbled in poor starts. Stacy Lewis, the 54-hole leader playing in her first event as a pro, double bogeyed the second hole. So did Paula Creamer, a six-time LPGA Tour winner seeking her first major championship. At No. 2, Lewis needed four shots to get up and down from the left greenside rough. Lewis, 23, the 2007 NCAA champion at Arkansas who rebounded from scoliosis as a child, made the turn in 40. She sounded more encouraged than upset afterward, despite shooting 78. "I finished third at the U.S. Women's Open in my first pro event", she said. "It's hard to be upset." Creamer, 21, made double bogey at No. 2 after hitting her approach over the green, fluffing her chip short of the green and failing to get up and down from there. She double bogeyed the ninth, too, after flying the green. She also closed with a 78. "It's the most disappointed I've been in a long time", Creamer said. Helen Alfredsson, 43, didn't hold up any better under the pressure and in gusting winds. She started the day tied with Park and in the same pairing. Alfredsson missed an 18-inch putt for par at the third hole and made consecutive bogeys at the third, fourth and fifth holes on the way to a 75 and second place. "Inbee played fantastic", Alfredsson said. "She was very calm. That's impressive for a 19-year-old." And inspiring for another generation of South Korean youth. Randall Mell's blog can be found at www.sun-sentinel.com/bunkershots. He can be reached at rmell@sun-sentinel.com
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