The Vault: A Teenaged Inbee Park Dominates at Interlachen

The golf world has turned its eyes from Rochester to Los Angeles with the highly anticipated U.S. Open at LACC North just a few short weeks away. Count me among those who’ve had this event circled in their calendars since it was announced. As soon as the action begins on Thursday, I know I’ll be wishing the event could magically stretch to five or six rounds. The post-U.S. Open letdown will be short-lived, though. One of the biggest weeks in the history of the women’s game, the U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach, begins just three weeks after LACC.

While reading up on the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open, I went down a Wikipedia rabbit hole of past events. The 2008 edition at Interlachen, where a 19-year-old Inbee Park became the first teenaged winner in championship history, immediately drew my attention. I was a casual fan at best back then, only occasionally tuning into Sunday coverage of the majors. I couldn’t remember much of anything from the tournament. Lucky for me, the USGA’s YouTube channel has a wonderful video collection called “U.S. Women’s Open Classic Finishes.” Not only did I get to watch Inbee’s clinical finish, but I also enjoyed a few delightful nuggets from the broadcast.

I quickly recognized Johnny Miller’s voice, and he did not disappoint with his blunt assessments of the golf being played and the players themselves. He seemed genuinely astounded by Inbee’s slow, methodical swing tempo. Her punch shot (50:30) to six feet on 15 had Johnny equal parts impressed and dumbfounded. He called it the “slowest punch shot I’ve ever seen.”

At 35:30, a frustrated Christie Kerr rolled in a bogey putt on the 17th. You don’t have to be a skilled lip reader to catch the f-bomb she drops right after the putt drops. Johnny immediately quips, “You could put a microphone on her, and she’d entertain us, I’ll tell ya that.” The joke got a hearty chuckle from Mark Rolfing. Nothing from Dottie Pepper, however. Tough crowd.

I’m not sure who at the USGA is editing these videos, but around the 1:24:00 mark, we’re treated to a couple of minutes of chatter among the broadcast team as they’re waiting to come back on the air. After some banter about Stacy Lewis’s birdie chance at 17, they start setting up Park’s approach into 18. With the tournament a foregone conclusion, Miller clearly wants some drama at the finish as he says, “How ’bout a little Lorena here? A little drop kicker in the lake, about three of them in a row.” This is a callback to Lorena Ochoa’s chunked 3-wood at the 18th in the final round of the 2005 US Women’s Open at Cherry Hills, which cost her a chance at the title. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Miller chimes back in with a “just kidding.”

Inbee went on to birdie 18 for a four-shot win, disposing of the drama Miller was hoping for. There were fireworks earlier in the day, though, as Annika Sörenstam finished up what everyone believed to be her last U.S. Women’s Open, with her retirement at the end of the year looming. I won’t spoil what happens, but start at the 44-minute mark and watch what makes Christie Kerr, her playing partner that day, curse once again.

A few other amusing notes…

Stacy Lewis doesn’t look a day older than 12.

Bermuda shorts were having a moment. Lewis, Kerr, Helen Alfredsson, and I.K. Kim were all sporting the style. Women’s golf attire has come a long way.

Lilia Vu’s leap into the murky lake at Carlton Woods earlier this year looks like a dip in a jacuzzi compared to the plunge Park’s caddie Brad Beecher takes into the very shallow water on the 18th at Interlachen.

Paula Creamer walked so Lexi Thompson could run.

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All joking aside, watching Inbee’s demeanor and maturity at such a young age was incredibly impressive. It gets mentioned multiple times during the broadcast, but Inbee literally picked up a club days after watching Se Ri Pak’s U.S. Women’s Open win in 1998. Ten years later, she was breaking Pak’s record for youngest woman to win the most prestigious tournament in the game. Pak kickstarted the golf craze that took over Korea, but Inbee’s domination over the next decade sent it into overdrive.