Pak Notches Third Victory in Four Tries

Se Ri Pak still doesn’t think she’s one of the top golfers in the world. Her latest effort says otherwise.

The unflappable 20-year-old birdied the final hole and then watched as Dottie Pepper missed a four-foot birdie putt that would have forced a playoff, giving Pak a one-shot victory Sunday in the Giant Eagle LPGA Classic at Howland, Ohio.

It was Pak’s fourth victory of the season and her third in her last four tournaments.

“Now? No,” Pak responded when asked if she was close to being among the elite players in the world. “I’m thinking I have much to learn about my golf game. I hit stupid shots many times.”

The victory again put Pak into the No. 1 spot on the LPGA money list. She has finished in the top 10 in only four tournaments--winning each one.

Pepper, seeking her 15th career victory and first in 45 tournaments, rolled in a five-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole to catch Pak at 14 under.

On No. 18, Pak hit a fairway wood for her second shot on the 451-yard, par-five hole that hit on the front edge of the green and rolled 15 feet short and right of the cup.

Pepper, playing one group behind Pak, was watching from the fairway as Pak just missed the eagle putt but tapped in for birdie to cap a five-under-par 67 and finish at 15-under 201.

“I had no idea what was going on,” Pepper said. “When I saw Se Ri miss her putt, I thought she had missed her birdie. I had no idea it was for eagle.”

Pepper pushed her fairway wood right, but got a favorable bounce off a hump behind the greenside bunker, the ball rolling to a stop 40 feet right of cup.

Pepper made a charge at what could have been the winning eagle putt, hitting it four feet past the hole. A television camera caught Pak yawning as she watched the drama.

While Pak turned away to rest in the scorer’s tent, Pepper then rammed the birdie putt past on the right side to give the $120,000 first-place check to Pak.

“People told me, ‘Playoff.’ Then they said, ‘You win!’ I didn’t know I win,” Pak said.

Pepper, too, thought that she had gotten into a playoff with Pak--even after three-putting.

Not until she saw her caddie, John Killeen, take off his caddie bib did she realize that she had lost.

“I asked John why he was taking his bib off. I said, ‘We’re going back to the tee, aren’t we?’ ” she said as her eyes began to fill with tears. “He said no.”

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Steve Pate had enough of a cushion to absorb a bogey six on the 583-yard 18th hole and win the CVS Charity Classic at Sutton, Mass., by one stroke.

Pate, who hooked three consecutive shots into the rough on 18, finished at 15-under-par 269, with Scott Hoch and Bradley Hughes finishing at 270.

“It would have been nice to have a little prettier finish,” said Pate, who hadn’t won since the 1992 Buick Invitational, “but the result is just as good.”

Pate, 37, broke his right hand and wrist in an auto accident in January 1996 and didn’t return to the tour until early 1997. His hand finally felt strong in May or June and he finished the year with four top-10 finishes in 28 events.

“Last year was basically like starting over,” said Pate, who turned to acupuncture to ease the pain in his hand, although it still aches. “I really didn’t have any idea if I’d be able to win again.”

Pate, once known for his hot temper, controlled it on 18 as he put his two-stroke lead in jeopardy. He recovered by calmly knocking his fourth shot on the green, then two-putting from 20 feet and finishing with a tap-in.

Hoch, who finished more than an hour before Pate, had a chance for a birdie on the 18th but put his approach shot 15 feet past the cup and two-putted for par.