STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Let's hear evidence that an athlete changed the face of her sport. Golfer Se Ri Pak retired last week. Injuries ended her Hall-of-Fame career. Yet, in a way, Pak's hold on golf has never been stronger.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Her rise in the late 1990s inspired a generation of young Asian girls. Now that generation is dominating the LPGA tour.
INSKEEP: Trace those success stories back far enough, and they begin with a TV broadcast of Pak's breakthrough win at the 1998 U.S. Women's Open.
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UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR #1: A par putt for Se Ri Pak. A lot of players have read this to break left.
DANIEL COYLE: My name's Daniel Coyle. I'm the author of "The Talent Code," and I've spent the last decade looking at why people get really, really good at things.
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UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR #2: And the rookie pro Se Ri Pak - what a display of golf.
COYLE: This was a perfect example of what I call ignition - an example of a moment when girls - Korean girls, Korean-American girls - were staring.
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COYLE: They were staring at this 20-year-old winning this huge tournament, saying I want to be just like her, connecting their identity with hers. To look at someone that you want to be is at the core of the talent-development process.
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TIFFANY JOH: I can say with 100 percent certainty that I would not be playing golf had I not switched on the TV that day. I'm Tiffany Joh. I'm 29 years old. This is my fifth year on the LPGA tour.
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UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR #3: She moves off the ball slightly with her head right there. Great extension.
JOH: I was probably about 12 years old. I hadn't really touched a golf club. My dad had played a little bit, and I think when they saw that this Korean girl was in contention, they thought it would be a really good opportunity for me to see someone that looked kind of like me on national television.
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UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR #4: And this ball drawing - this is a little dangerous.
JOH: I just remember Se Ri Pak hit this shot way left, and everyone thought that she just had no chance of winning from where she was.
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UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR #4: She's going to have to stand in the water, obviously, to play this shot.
JOH: Instead of taking a drop, she decided to kind of take the riskier play.
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SE RI PAK: I have to take the shoes.
UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR #4: She's saying I might have to take the shoe.
JOH: Took off her shoes and took off her socks. And the main thing I remember is seeing her sock tan because her feet were so white, and she was so tanned. And - and I was pretty outdoorsy at the time myself, and I think my parents were always worried about me getting darker. But for the first time, I saw this girl that was super-tanned, and she was Asian, and she looked like me, and she was playing a sport.
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UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR #4: Well, she's got it out all right. Will it get down?
JOH: It was pretty much the day after that I told my dad that I wanted to get some golf clubs and start playing. And he was all for it.
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JOH: If you look at the average age of LPGA Korean golfers out on tour now, they're around 25 to 29, which means they were probably anywhere from 7 to 12 years old when Se Ri won the U.S. Open. And that's actually kind of the perfect age to start golf.
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JOH: You look at the top 10 players in the world right now. Lydia Ko is the number-one golfer right now. Inbee Park Just won the gold medal at the Olympics - In Gee Chun, I. K. Kim, So Yeon Ryu. Even in my close-knit group of Korean-Americans on tour - Christina Kim, Michelle Wie, Jane Park - we're all Koreans that were born and raised in America but watched that same coverage of Se Ri winning the U.S. Open.
INSKEEP: Golfer Tiffany Joh with her appreciation of Se Ri Pak, who has retired. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
