Korean Media Paks Course at Oakmont

Everywhere Se Ri Pak goes at Oakmont Country Club in Glendale, a throng of Korean reporters is sure to follow.

Tournament officials issued about 60 credentials to Korean media, nearly half of the total requested by the foreign press.

But the LPGA’s rookie of the year in 1998, a national hero, said she hopes to handle the pressure differently this season.

“I don’t want to push myself,” Pak said. “I know that golf is not that easy, so I just tell myself 1999 is a new season.”

Pak recently was blasted at home for saying in an interview she would become a U.S. citizen so she could play in the Solheim Cup. She is still trying to clear the misunderstanding.

“[The reporter] ask me if I want to play in [the Solheim Cup] and I can’t,” Pak said. “I am an LPGA player, but not a U.S. citizen. I was joking and I said I want to play, so I will change my passport. . . . Korean media think I was serious.”

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Rookie Laura Philo didn’t sit idly last week while the LPGA Tour took a break before resuming play today with the Valley of the Stars Championship.

Philo, among the tour’s top newcomers, won a tournament--in Chile.

“I did it just to keep me in competition,” said Philo, a former All-American at Wake Forest. “Just kind of getting into the groove.”

She arrived in Glendale on Tuesday, after a 13-hour flight that included a stop in Lima, Peru.

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After failing to qualify last year, Caroline Blaylock is in the 132-player field at Oakmont, hoping it will jump-start her pro career.

Blaylock, in her second year on the tour, is a nonexempt player and has to play in the qualifying round at every tournament.

She secured one of two available spots for the Valley of the Stars Championship by shooting 71 in the qualifier on Monday.

“I’ve got kind of a laid-back approach,” Blaylock said. “If I get in fine, if not, it’s just another week to take advantage of good practice facilities.”

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Beth Daniel, who this week was selected to the LPGA Hall of Fame, is among the Golf Channel’s reporters covering the tournament. Donna Caponi, two-time U.S. Women’s Open champion, is the analyst.

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One of the most popular attractions at Oakmont this weekend should be the LPGA Fan Village, a traveling on-site interactive entertainment center sponsored primarily by Target.

The 2,400-square-foot center, housed in a tent, includes a swing analysis system, an electronic putting challenge and a pictorial history of the LPGA.