Golfing great Phil Mickelson now in the Hall of Fame

Mickelson at Muirfield Village-Flickr-Ed (supergolfdude)

Golfer Phil Mickelson was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame on May 6th 2012. His astounding career includes three Masters, two World Golf Championships, a PGA Championship, and a total of 42 wins.

But his career is more than that. Mickelson is intensely popular among fans for his charisma and engaging personality. He spends hours signing autographs and greeting his fans before matches.

The Hall of Fame Committee, aside from his exceptional record, cited his role model behavior, good image, and devotion as reasons for the induction. As PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said at the induction ceremony, “ …you've never seen Phil Mickelson on or off the golf course that he wasn't showing the proper professionalism and comportment that you want to see in any athlete.”

Mickelson's family has been an important part of his success. He learned to play golf from his father, and has continued to draw inspiration from his family. Mickelson cherishes the personal memories he has gained throughout his career. Speaking to Bleacher Report about his first Masters Championship, Mickelson said, “What I remember about that Masters was that blond curly hair, the binky in her mouth, the two year old Sophia waving to the camera as CBS panned out from the scorer's tent”.

Mickelson is a truly outstanding athlete, as a golfer, as a role model and as a person. He may now be a Hall of Fame inductee, but the ambitious athlete’s career is not over. He is expected to play in the upcoming Players Championship, and says he plans to win a US and British Open before retirement.

Biography of Golfer Se Ri Pak

Se Ri Pak - Keith_Allison - flickr.com

Se Ri Pak was born on September 28, 1977. She is a South Korean professional golfer, who is now playing on the LPGA Tour. Within ten years of playing professionally, in November 2007 she was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Se Ri Pak did not start playing golf as a child. She ran track, which helped her build up the powerful thighs and legs she later used in her golf swing to create amazing stability and balance.

Even though Pak did not start golf as a child she still managed to win 30 amateur tournaments in South Korea. She became a professional golf player in 1996. Over the next two years she played 14 events on the Korean LPGA. She won six times and finished second for the other seven times.

Pak’s first and second wins in U.S.A., were majors. Her first win was the LPGA Championship, and her second win was U.S. Women Open. In her second win, she won by twenty at the competition, defeating Jenny Chuasiriporn. Pak won again the next week at the Jamie Farr Kroger Classic.

She won four tournaments in 1999, and five tournaments each in 2001 and 2002. From 1998 to 2006 Pak won five major championships. Winning that many tournaments and major championships is a difficult thing for any athlete to do. 

At the 2005 McDonald's LPGA Championship, Pak missed the cut for the first time in 29 majors. In an interview quoted from the PGA Tour's website she said that she is trying to find a balance between her career and her personal life, "I've been a little bit unhappy about everything, my game, big game. I'm not really enjoying it at all, and I'm not doing anything with my ability. I know what I needed, a much better balance. I'm always putting a lot of pressure on myself." Eventually it was discovered that she had a finger injury. In 2006 she came back and won the McDonald's LPGA championship for the third time.

When Pak first joined the LPGA tour she was the only Korean player. Now years past more Koreans are starting to join. Pak has influenced a lot of young Korean golfer players to join the LPGA.

"I have given them the confidence to come out here," Pak said to the World Golf Hall of Fame. " I think of them as my sisters."

Striking through barriers

Michelle Wie
Picture from Keith Allison at Flickr.com

Many people have dreams, but do any of them have dreams as large as Michelle Wie? The 22-year-old Wie is an American professional golfer on the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour. She was born in Honolulu, Hawaii and is set to graduate Stanford University this month. Wie’s dream was not to play on the LPGA Tour like other female golfers, but to play in the PGA and Masters.

Many have played in The Masters, but none have been female. Wie had the dream to play in The Masters and become a full fledged PGA Tour card carrying member since the seventh grade. Wie’s pursue to chase after her dreams inspired many others to not give up on theirs.

At the age of four, Wie was introduced to golf by her father Byung-Wook “B.J." Wie, who emmigrated to the USA from South Korea. Besides coaching her daughter, B.J. Wie also often served as his daughters caddy. Not long after starting golf, she could drive the ball 100 yards, and by the time she was 12,  Wie could drive the ball more than 300 yards. 

As she advanced toward her goals, she also broke many records on the way. As early as age 10, she broke the record by became the youngest qualifier of USGA Women's Amateur Public Links Championship. Soon she had more victories and shattered more records for youngest ever in almost every category of golf in Hawaii. At the age 14, she played in the Sony Open, her first PGA Tour. Though she missed the cut by one stroke, she had managed to fulfill a part of her dreams. During that game, Tour veteran J.P. Hayes in an article by Golf Today compared Wie to Tiger Woods, "It was amazing she could shoot those scores at 14. I don't care if it's a boy or a girl. Tiger played out here when he was a teenager and he didn't even come close to makinga cut." By the time Wie was 16, she turned into a professional golf player. Two years later, she got her first LPGA tour card.

Though Wie have not reached any of her dreams yet, she continues to improve. Many have faith that she will one day fulfill her dreams and break more barriers in golf.