This book tries to understand why sportspersons make the most popular role models

In South Korea, when the young woman golfer Se-Ri Pak shot to fame in 1998, winning both the United States Open and the Ladies PGA, two of the five major tournaments of international golf – and that too, in her rookie year – a wave of interest was set in motion. Se-Ri Pak’s successes encouraged other young women to view the game with a different perspective. Until then, golf had been seen by the Korean public as something distant and elitist, but now it became a viable new pathway to glory and riches for the ordinary young woman. If Se-Ri Pak, the girl next door from Daejeon, could become a champion golfer, then girls from Incheon and Busan would not be left behind. A wave of young women started playing golf. Calling themselves Se-Ri Kids, a new set of champion golfers arose, who showed other Koreans that Pak’s triumphs were not a one-off success. In 2017, 20 years after Se-Ri Pak’s explosive emergence onto the world of golf, South Korean women won 15 of 33 events organised by the LPGA, the apex body of international golf, claiming more titles than women of any other country.

Se-Ri Pak’s example demonstrated the viability of...

Read more