Pak Looks to Unseat Sorenstam As No. 1

<br> <br>SUPERSTITION MOUNTAIN, Ariz. (AP) _ With all the attention given to Annika Sorenstam and Michelle Wie this week at the Safeway International, one magnificently talented golfer seems overlooked.

Thursday, March 18th 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

SUPERSTITION MOUNTAIN, Ariz. (AP) _ With all the attention given to Annika Sorenstam and Michelle Wie this week at the Safeway International, one magnificently talented golfer seems overlooked.

Se Ri Pak _ the event's defending champion _ was the No. 2 golfer on the LPGA Tour last year, and her unabashed goal this year is to unseat Sorenstam as No. 1.

``I've got great experience the last couple of years,'' Pak said after her practice round Wednesday. ``But at the same time, I am still, what, 26 years old. I have many games of golf left in myself. So I only think of No. 1.''

Her eyes clearly are on Sorenstam's records.

``She did 59?'' Pak said, referring to the record-low round Sorenstam had in Phoenix in 2001. ``I'm looking 58.''

Pak has 21 victories, four of them majors, in just five years on the LPGA Tour, all the while overcoming a language and cultural barrier that often left her feeling lonely. Now, with many Koreans following onto the tour, that is not such a problem. Pak's English is very good, and her game is even better. She is just one point shy of the requirement for the LPGA Hall of Fame, although she has to wait to officially enter the hall in 2007, when she's been on the tour for 10 years.

No wonder she is so eager to get on with this season.

``I just couldn't wait the whole winter,'' Pak said. ``I worked so hard for myself and my coach, and it seems like my game was pretty much ready early.''

Pak doesn't know much about Wie, whose parents are both Korean, but she has had her own share of adulation as a youngster in Korea and knows the challenges that the 14-year-old Hawaiian will face.

``All she can do is come out and enjoy it, and at the same time trying to learn more herself,'' Pak said.

``Her swing is strong and it's long, but she needs a little bit more control of her game,'' Pak said. ``But she is 14, so she's perfect. I mean, she's so strong, and I think she pretty much handles herself pretty well. I think all she can do is just enjoy herself, not try too hard to be on the tour and just enjoy it.''

The Phoenix stop on the LPGA Tour has a new home, and it's a haven for long hitters.

``It's a bomber's course, and it's just beautiful,'' said Wie, who had seven drives 285 yards or longer in her pro-am round Tuesday.

The Safeway International was known as the Safeway PING when it was played on the cozier Moon Valley Country Club course in north Phoenix a year ago.

It has it moved 50 miles to the east, to the Jack Nicklaus-designed Prospector Course at the Superstition Mountain Golf Club, site of the 2001 Tradition on the Champions Tour.

The $1.2 million event will be played out over four days a par-72, 6,620-yard course lined with luxury homes _ some still under construction _ in the shadow of the Superstition Mountains, where legend has it the lost Dutchman gold mine lies waiting to be rediscovered.

The course is longer than any of last year's LPGA layouts, including the U.S. Women's Open. It's nearly 500 yards longer than the site of last week's season-opening Welch's/Fry's Championship in Tucson, where Karen Stupples shot 22-under par for a tour-record raw score of 258.

The Prospector Course is about 100 yards longer than the Mission Hills layout for next week's Kraft Nabisco Championship, the season's first major.

``This golf course is in such good shape that it prepares us really well for next week,'' said Sorenstam, who makes her season debut this week. ``It's a bit longer than we used to play at Moon Valley. I think the greens are firmer, the rough a little thicker, so I think it's good preparation.''

The course has four par-5s, all longer than 500 yards. Pak won at 23-under 265 a year ago at Moon Valley. This year, she thinks 13-under might be enough, considering the combination of long holes and extremely firm greens.

``I haven't really planned for this golf course yet,'' Pak said. ``This golf course I don't think is easy at all.''