It wasn’t always easy for Pak.

There were stories about how her father made her spend the night in a cemetery to improve her mental toughness, and walk up stairs backward to strengthen her legs. Having already won 30 times before turning pro at 18, then finishing no worse than second in 13 out of 14 events, she qualified for the LPGA Tour on her first attempt.

In her first tournament as a rookie, Pak was paired with Kelli Kuehne, who had turned pro with great fanfare and a big Nike contract. Pak wasn’t a total unknown. Laura Davies had seen Pak play, and she placed a bet on Pak winning her rookie debut when she learned the odds were 66-to-1.

Jim Ritts, the LPGA Tour commissioner during Pak’s rookie season, also knew something about her. He was at the Samsung World Championship in Korea in 1996 when Pak was 19 and received a sponsor’s exemption. She finished third behind Annika Sorenstam.

“My first impression was how I felt about Ernie Els,” Ritts said. “Here was a person who was clearly a gifted athlete and could have chosen to be a star in various sports, and yet she chose golf. I could never have predicted what she was going to do. She didn’t speak much English, but she had such joy on the golf course. It was extraordinary to watch.”

But it came at a price.

“Pak-mania” ruled in the summer of ’98, especially after she won the U.S. Women’s Open at Blackwolf Run in a 20-hole playoff against amateur Jenny Chuasiriporn. Press centers were packed with South Korean media, as many as 70 reporters and photographers. It was pure chaos inside the ropes. When she returned to South Korea that fall, she had to be hospitalized for exhaustion.

Television cameras even came into her hospital room to give the latest news.

“She started out as a raw talent, a great ball-striker, very robotic with a flawless swing,” Inkster said. “When she was in her prime, she was the best. But the thing about Se Ri is she played because that’s what she did, not that she really loved the game.”

That showed when Pak went into a deep slump brought on by burnout. She plummeted to 102nd on the money list with not so much as a top 10 in 2005, eventually taking the rest of the year off to cope with injuries. But she slowly seized control of her life, and returned in 2006 with a smile bigger than ever.

She added another major, nearly holing out with a 4-iron hybrid in a playoff against Webb in the LPGA Championship, leaping into the arms of her caddie in sheer exultation.

“First time I jump on the golf course,” Pak said.

The number of South Koreans keeps growing, most if not all pointing to “big sister” Pak as their inspiration. The pinnacle for Pak comes at the World Golf Village on Monday night when she will be the first South Korean to be inducted.

“In a way, being first means that I am a pioneer for my country,” she said. “And it makes me proud.”

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