By Alex Miceli

Newport, R.I. - Call it a resurgence, call it rebirth or call it a revival, but any way you look at it, Karrie Webb and Se Ri Pak are coming into this year’s Women’s Open as players to watch, a position neither have found themselves in for some time.

The revival comes in a year when the young guns, notably Paula Creamer, Brittany Lang and Morgan Pressel, have not quite lived up to their potential. Meanwhile, the old guard in Annika Sorenstam has struggled to find her game. 

Surprisingly, Pak and Webb have brandished a sword for the veteran players. Each has won one of the first two majors -- Webb the Kraft Nabisco and Pak the McDonald’s LPGA Championship in a playoff over Webb. But for each of them, the last couple of years have been such a struggle that they’ve done a lot of soul searching.

Since winning the U.S. Women’s Open in 1998, her first year on the LPGA tour, Pak, 28, was solid for a stretch of six years. She racked up five years (1998-2003) of multiple-win seasons, winning 21 tournaments (four of them majors) on the LPGA Tour.

But after her victory at the 2004 Michelob ULTRA Open, Pak’s game so spiraled downward that she struggled to find her place on the golf course. 

Her fall from golf grace was most evident in major championships where she had previously excelled.  After recording 10 top-10s in major championships since 1998, her best finish in 2004 was a T16, and in 2005 her best finish was a T27 at the Kraft Nabisco Championship. For the first time in her career she missed cuts at both the McDonald’s LPGA Championship and the Weetabix British Open.

At last year’s Women’s Open, Pak showed signs of a comeback, tied for ninth after 36 holes. But a third round 81 blew any chance for Pak to win and she eventually finished tied for 45th.

"I watch her play every round of golf, and I don’t see the concentration level where it needs to be," said Tom Creavy, Pak’s longtime instructor after last year’s third round at the U.S. Women’s Open.  "Today (Saturday), she shot 4 over on the front nine, made bogey for the middle of the fairway about 100 yards, and then made triple on a par 5 when it took her five shots to get up and down from 20 yards."

Pak’s reappearance on the top of the golf stage came to its zenith quickly as she won this year’s LPGA McDonald’s Championship in a playoff, defeating Webb. It was her first victory in two years and her first major since the 2002 McDonald’s LPGA Championship. 

But the genesis for Pak’s 23^rd victory and fifth major championship came in the most unusual form: a painful neck injury.

"I felt I really wanted some rest, trying to have some more break time," said Pak. "Like not just really playing golf, not really thinking about anything about the tournaments … I just don't want to be on the golf course, but so I said that God is helping me out by giving me injuries so I can't play golf."

Pak’s injury limited her to 12 events on the LPGA Tour last year and it gave her time to reflect on what she really wanted.  She could not pick up a club or practice, so Pak had time to look at her career and found that her life was not as bad as she had thought.

"Just so much pressure the last two years, was never happy when I played golf – for the first time ever," said Pak Tuesday at Newport Country Club. "After that, I said it doesn’t matter when I’m going to come back, but I knew I’m still up there.

"The last two years has been a perfect time for me to step [up] one more level, upgrade myself, which is great for me.

For the 31-year-old Webb, her career was full of success. She had 30 wins and six major championships in a nine-year period.  Even during her slump, Webb never thought she couldn’t win, every week teeing it up like every other player, but her confidence in her game was suspect. A bigger problem for Webb was that she didn’t really enjoy winning, if that makes sense; she didn’t savor the hoopla that came with the success of being arguably the best player in the world. Instead, she started to lose interest until she caught the bug again.

Not pinpointing any specific date or time, Webb was ready to commit to winning golf tournaments again in the beginning of 2005 when she started to work with Ian Triggs in the U.S., as well as her lifelong coach Kelvin Haller in Australia.  When Triggs came into the picture, Webb was working on moving the ball both ways off the tee. But Webb had fallen into a prior trap of becoming too technical versus the feel and instinct player she had been for most of her career.  Eventually she would work through it, but it wasn’t until the beginning of 2006, while finishing the season in Australia, did Webb finally get it under control.

"I went and saw an Australian sports psychologist, as well, who Ian has worked a lot with," said Webb Tuesday.  "We went back to changing my pre-shot routine and getting me to hit the ball sooner so that I don't get stuck on the technical things."

That change has since produced two victories in 2006, a win at the Kraft Nabisco Championship and the Michelob ULTRA Open.  Now Webb has confidence going forward to trust her swing and her game. 

Webb points to the win at the Nabisco, specifically the third shot over water on the par-5 18^th hole that produced an eagle and an eventual playoff win as the catalyst for her resurgence.  But that shot also gave her the freedom to trust her game, and at the same time, produced something she had struggled with before -- the thrill of victory.

"To be back in the thick of it again -- that's what I wanted, to just get back and have a chance to win each week," said Webb. "And just too really appreciate that those opportunities don't come along as much as I thought they did, because they were always there at the start of my career."

Alex Miceli is a freelance writer whose work has appeared previously on www.uswomensopen.com.