Se Ri Pak Goes the Distance

Se Ri Pak finally showed some emotion when she became the youngest U.S. Women’s Open champion in history.

The 20-year-old from South Korea pumped her fists and jumped into her father’s arms Monday after her 18-foot birdie on the 20th extra hole finally put away amateur Jenny Chuasiriporn.

It was the longest Women’s Open in history and it ended with the youngest champion in 53 editions of the biggest event in women’s golf.

Pak, so impervious to pressure through 92 holes, finally cracked--a smile, that is. She beamed as her father, Joon-Chul, raced across the green to hug her.

“I’m really happy,” Pak said after the first sudden death in the history of this tournament. “She is a really great player. I didn’t give up, I just kept playing my game.”

Pak, who took off her shoes and hit out of the water on the 18th hole, had remained stoic and businesslike even as Chuasiriporn, whose passionate and expressive play is reminiscent of Nancy Lopez, grabbed a four-stroke lead through the first five holes.

The two were tied at two-over 73 after 18 holes at Blackwolf Run.

Chuasiriporn, who sank a riveting 40-foot putt on the final hole Sunday to force a playoff, barely missed a 10-foot putt for par on the same hole Monday that would have made her the first amateur champion since 1967.

“That’s how it goes,” Chuasiriporn, also 20, said. “This is a great experience for me, more than I ever expected going into this.”

Pak, who won the LPGA Championship in May, became the first rookie to win two majors since Juli Inkster won the Nabisco Dinah Shore and du Maurier Ltd. Classic in 1984.

Pak, who didn’t take the lead until the 14th hole, overcame the early four-stroke deficit thanks to a triple-bogey by Chuasiriporn on No. 6.

“Four shots wasn’t enough for me,” Chuasiriporn said. “I knew I had to make it more. I was trying to keep my momentum going, but Blackwolf Run got me. It happens. I expected some good breaks and some bad breaks. I got a bad one.”

Chuasiriporn, entering her senior year at Duke, was trying to become only the second amateur to win in 53 editions of the Women’s Open, joining Catherine LaCoste, who won it at 22 in 1967. On Sunday, Pak was awarded the first-place prize of $267,500 because amateurs are ineligible to collect prize money.

Before Pak, LaCoste was the youngest woman to win an Open. The last woman to win consecutive majors was Meg Mallon in 1991.

The last playoff in the Open was in 1992, when Patty Sheehan defeated Inkster by two strokes at Oakmont, Pa.

The sudden death playoff came after high drama on No. 18, where both golfers bogeyed the par-4, 421-yard hole.

Pak’s tee shots were true all day until she hooked one toward the lake on 18, the ball landing in the rough on a steep slope. Her caddie, Jeff Cable, had to help her so that she didn’t slip into the water as she took a look.

Taking off her spikes and socks, Pak stepped into the calf-deep water, took an A-wedge and pitched the ball into the rough on the other side of the fairway.

“I didn’t know how I was going to get of there,” Pak said. “I just played my game.”

After offering her wedge to her caddie to help pull her back ashore, Pak hit a 148-yard shot onto the green, about 15 feet from the hole.

Chuasiriporn’s chip for a birdie from the rough was way too hard and ended up 10 feet past the hole.

Pak’s putt for par was short, leaving Chuasiriporn with a chance to win it all with a 10-foot putt. But the ball went past by less than an inch, and her tap-in sent the twosome back to the 564-yard, par-5 10th hole for sudden death.

There, they each parred with tap-in putts.

And it was off to the 374-yard par-4 No. 11, where Chuasiriporn missed a 20-foot birdie putt, then watched Pak sink an 18-footer for the win on the tournament’s 92nd hole.

“It was difficult to watch,” Chuasiriporn said. “I really had a sixth-sense feeling that she was going to make that.

“I made a good run for it, but I knew it wasn’t going to happen. Right after I missed, I was feeling it slip away.”