Born in Taejon, she attended Yusong Elementary School [ko] in that city and then Keumseong Girls’ High School [ko] in Kongju City, Chungnam Province, where she was the school's best amateur golfer. She then moved to Seoul for training.[1]
Pak turned professional in 1996, a year before she moved to the U.S. as a 20-year-old.[2] In 1996 and 1997, she won six tournaments on the LPGA of Korea Tour. Pak joined the LPGA Tour full-time for the year 1998, crowning her rookie season with victories in two majors: the McDonald's LPGA Championship and U.S. Women's Open. At just 20 years of age, she became the youngest-ever winner of the U.S. Women's Open. About.com writes that "Pak won a 20-hole playoff for that victory, making that tournament - at 92 holes in length - the longest tournament ever in women's professional golf."[3] Four days after the U.S. Women's Open win, Pak shot a then-LPGA record 61 during the second round of the Jamie Farr Kroger Classic.[4] She won the Rolex Rookie of the Year award for that season.
Since 1998, she has gone on to win 21 more events on the Tour, including three more majors. In June 2007, at age 29, she qualified for the World Golf Hall of Fame, surpassing Karrie Webb as the youngest living entrant ever.[5] (Tom Morris, Jr., who died in 1875 at the age of 24, had been elected in 1975.)
Pak has also competed in a professional men's event, at the 2003 SBS Super Tournament on the Korean Tour. The Korean Tour was a feeder tour for the Asian Tour and did not offer world ranking points. She finished 10th in the event, according to the World Golf Hall of Fame "becoming the first woman to make the cut in a professional men's tournament since Babe Zaharias did so in 1945."[6]
At the 2005 McDonald's LPGA Championship, she missed the cut for the first time in 29 majors. In an interview quoted on the PGA Tour's website, she commented that she was searching for a balance between her golf and her personal life: "I've been a little bit unhappy about everything, my game, big game. I'm not really enjoying it at all, and I'm not doing anything with my ability. I know what I needed, a much better balance. I'm always putting a lot of pressure on myself". Eventually, she was found to have a finger injury. In 2006, she rediscovered her best form by winning the McDonald's LPGA Championship for the third time to claim her fifth major title overall.
In 2007, she won the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic for the fifth time, making her the fourth player in LPGA history to win the same tournament five or more times (Annika Sörenstam accomplished this feat at two tournaments).[7]
Perhaps the greatest tribute to her career to date came in a column by Golf World writer Eric Adelson in 2008, who called Pak "a pioneer... who changed the face of golf even more than Tiger Woods."[8] When Pak came to the LPGA in 1998, she was the only South Korean player. Ten years later, she was one of 45 South Koreans on tour,[9] and the single largest source of revenue for the LPGA was the sale of TV rights in South Korea.[10]
Pak was the only South Korean on the LPGA Tour in the year 1998. Her spectacular triumph at the 1998 U.S. Women's Open encouraged many South Korean women to take up golf as a sport. She is regarded as a leader of the game in her home country and has also inspired the new generations of LPGA players Na Yeon Choi and Inbee Park who have followed her footsteps at the LPGA level.[11] A statue of her now stands outside Gongju's stadium.[12] This statue commemorates her signature moment: a successful shot from a water hazard to remain tied for first place in the 1998 U.S. Women's Open; this allowed her to force a sudden death playoff which she then won with "a tremendous birdie putt from nearly 20 feet on the second hole."[13] This was a victory named by the Korea Times as the 3rd most acclaimed moment in 60 years of South Korean sports history.[14] Her shot was shown as the basis for the first episode of the South Korean TV drama Birdie Buddy.[15]
On 17 March 2016, Pak announced that she would retire following the 2016 season.[16] She retired the following 13 October, after completing the first round of South Korea's lone LPGA-sanctioned event, the LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship.[17]
1 Defeated Chuasiriporn on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff, after an 18-hole playoff round 2 Defeated Webb on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff
^Lee Seung-mi (21 December 2021). "[공식]新예능 '우리끼리 작전타임', 박세리X김성주 MC…1월 19일 첫방송" [[Official] New entertainment 'Operation Time Between Us', Se-ri Park X Seong-joo Kim MC... First broadcast on January 19th] (in Korean). Sports Chosun. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2021 – via Naver.
^Park Seo-yeon (3 January 2022). "내일은 영웅-깐부' 박세리, 직접 기획 참여 신개념 골프 예능..6일 첫 방송" [Tomorrow is a hero-Kanbu' Se-ri Pak, a new concept golf entertainment with direct participation in planning.. First broadcast on the 6th] (in Korean). Herald Pop. Archived from the original on 3 January 2022. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
^Kim Ye-eun (14 July 2022). "이경규·안정환·박세리…'오늘부터 잇생', 디지털 문맹 탈출 도전" [Lee Kyung-gyu, Ahn Jung-hwan, Park Se-ri… 'It Saeng From Today', a challenge to escape from digital illiteracy] (in Korean). X-ports News. Archived from the original on 21 June 2020. Retrieved 14 July 2022 – via Naver.
^Jang, Da-hee (2 September 2022). "서장훈-전현무, KBS 추석특집 '스포츠 골든벨' MC 호흡" [Seo Jang-hoon and Jeon Hyun-moo, MCs for KBS Chuseok Special 'Sports Golden Bell'] (in Korean). spoTV News. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2022 – via Naver.
^Kim Min-ji (4 January 2023). "박세리·장성규·이특, 초대형 골프 오디션 '더 퀸즈' 출연…8일 첫방" [Pak Se-ri, Jang Seong-gyu, and Leeteuk appear in the super-large golf audition 'The Queens'... First episode on the 8th]. News1 (in Korean). Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 4 January 2023 – via Naver.
^Lee Seung-mi (23 August 2022). 장성규·이특, 채널A 새 골프 예능 MC 발탁 [연예뉴스 HOT] [Jang Seong-gyu and Leeteuk are selected as the MCs for Channel A's new golf entertainment program [Entertainment News HOT]]. Sports Dong-a (in Korean). Archived from the original on 30 September 2022. Retrieved 1 October 2022 – via Naver.
^Park Jae-hwan (3 April 2023). "리치 언니' 박세리, '개는 훌륭하다' MC 합류" ['Rich Unnie' Pak Se-ri joins 'Dogs are great' MC] (in Korean). KBS Media. Archived from the original on 3 April 2023. Retrieved 3 April 2023 – via Naver.
^Kang Hyun-jin (27 July 2021). "골프 사랑꾼' SG워너비 김용준, 박세리와 만난다 (세리자베스)" ['Golf Lover' SG Wannabe Kim Yong-jun and Pak Se-ri meet (Cerizabeth)]. xportsnews (in Korean). Naver. Archived from the original on 27 July 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
^Lee, Seung-gil (1 September 2022). "유재석·임영웅·아이브 등, '2022 올해의 브랜드 대상' 수상 [공식]" [Jae-seok Yoo, Young-woong Lim, Ive, etc., won the '2022 Brand of the Year Grand Prize' [Official]] (in Korean). My Daily. Archived from the original on 1 September 2022. Retrieved 1 September 2022 – via Naver.
^Noh Yi-seul (2 May 2022). "2PM 이준호·유재석·태연·아이유·강다니엘 등, 2022 브랜드 고객충성도 1위" [2PM Lee Jun-ho, Yoo Jae-suk, Taeyeon, IU, Kang Daniel, etc., Ranked No. 1 in Customer Loyalty in 2022] (in Korean). Sports W. Archived from the original on 3 May 2022. Retrieved 3 May 2022.