Portal:Golf/Selected biography archive
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[edit] July 2 to July 27, 2006
Se Ri Pak (born September 28, 1977) is a professional golfer who is ranked nineteenth in the world and best known for having accumulated tweleve top-ten finishes in major championships, amongst which were five victories, and for securing admission to the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Pak, born in Daejon, South Korea, flag pictured, began professional play in 1996, participating in tournaments on the LPGA, LPGA of Korea, and LPGA of Japan Tours, and began full-time play on the LPGA Tour in 1998, earning the tour's Rookie of the Year award after capturing the McDonald's LPGA Championship and United States Women's Open Championship. Pak won the 2001 Women's British Open to complete three-quarters of a career Grand Slam; victory in the Kraft Nabisco Championship has eluded Pak, though, and she has finished no better than eleventh. Image:Flag of South Korea.svg Pak has won 23 LPGA Tour tournaments and is one of just four non-American players to have claimed at least 20 Tour wins. In 2003, Pak, having won three tournaments, including the Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill, at which she became the second consecutive South Korean victor, following countrymate Grace Park, entered a men's tournament on the PGA of Korea Tour, a developmental tour affiliated with the Asian Tour; Pak qualified for weekend play and eventually finished eleventh.
Having met the automatic qualification requirements, Pak is eligible for induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame but has made at least ten starts for only nine consecutive years; should Pak complete the 2007 LPGA season, she wil be inducted into the Hall in October 2007 and will become the youngest living member.
[edit] June 3 to July 2, 2006
Harry Vardon (May 9, 1870 – March 20, 1937) was an English golfer, author, links course architect, and golf instructor who finished his playing career having won more than 120 golf matches and 62 golf tournaments and was one of six initial inductees into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974.
Born in Grouville, Jersey, Channel Islands, Vardon, at the urging of his older brother, Tom, began to play golf while in his teens and became a professional just after he attained the age of 20. Vardon immediately became known not only for his play but also for his formal fashion of dress; Vardon played in knickers and, consistent with the image of a proper English gentleman, a buttoned coat and necktie.
Vardon quickly excelled at the game, and won the first of his record six Open Championships in 1896. Vardon became popular in his native England, having won the Open Championship in 1898 and 1899, and garnered worldwide celebrity when he toured the United States in 1900; Vardon played in more than 80 individual matches, winning nearly 90 percent, sometimes against the best ball of two opponents, and capped his American tour by winning the United States Open at the Chicago Golf Club. He became the first player who was able to play golf exclusively as a vocation, earning purses for appearing at exhibitions and garnering appearance fees; prior to Vardon's American tour, most top players worked as club professionals to supplement playing earnings.
Vardon again won the Open Championship in 1903, 1911, and 1914 and continued to play in the United States, finishing second after losing a playoff to American amateur Francis Ouimet in the 1913 United States Open and capping his professional career with another runner-up finish at the United States Open, this in 1920 to England's Ted Ray, with whom Vardon had played in the 1913 playoff.
Upon his retirement, Vardon, who would experience sundry health problems, some related to tuberculosis, for the remainder of his life, undertook to design several golf courses in Great Britain and took up writing, completing instructional and inspirational tomes. As an instructor, Vardon refined his golf swing and grip, popularizing each in his homeland and in North America; the Vardon grip, a modification of others popular during his time involving the interlocking of fingers and the overlapping of the hands, remains the most popular grip today.
