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HAVRE DE GRACE, Md. -- Se Ri Pak offered a hug and congratulations when Hall of Famer Karrie Webb reignited her career and captured a seventh major title in March by winning the Kraft Nabisco Championship.
Pak also made a prediction.
"She said it was good to see me back playing well and now it's my turn. I'll win the next one," Webb recalled.
Pak delivered at Webb's expense Sunday in the McDonald's LPGA Championship as they turned away a leaderboard full of young stars at Bulle Rock Golf Course and turned back the clock to when they dueled in the late 1990s.
Pak shot 3-under-par 69 but created the drama with a three-putt from 30 feet at No.18, a bogey that dropped her to 8 under par and into a playoff with Webb (68).
But like Webb, Pak has enjoyed a comeback of sorts.
She responded like a veteran star, launching a 201-yard shot with a hybrid 4-iron club that kicked straight toward the flagstick. The ball stopped inches away from an eagle, a near replay of Webb's dramatic hole-out from the fairway that put her in the Kraft Nabisco playoff she won against Lorena Ochoa.
"That's the first time I've jumped on the golf course," Pak said. "The last, what, eight, nine years, that's my first time. I'm jumping as soon as I make that shot. It feels great."
Mi Hyun Kim (71) and Ai Miyazato (72) tied for third, one stroke back at 7 under par. Michelle Wie (72), Cristie Kerr (68), Shi Hyun Ahn (72) and Pat Hurst (73) finished tied for fifth at 6 under.
Pak, 28, secured her third LPGA Championship and fifth major title with a tap-in birdie when Webb missed a 25-foot putt on No.18. Pak's 23rd career victory -- her first since early 2004 -- also denied Webb, 31, the second leg of the Grand Slam.
"It's great to see us older players mixing it up with the younger players," Webb said. "I don't think you want to see just the younger players or just the older players. It's a really good mix right now."
Pak has qualified for the Hall of Fame but must fulfill the last requirement, playing the LPGA tour for 10 years, which she'll satisfy in 2007. She joins Mickey Wright, Kathy Whitworth, Patty Sheehan and Annika Sorenstam as the only three-time winners of the LPGA Championship.
Perhaps Pak's greatest influence has been inspiring a talented wave of young South Korean players. When Pak joined the LPGA tour full time in 1998, she was the only Korean playing in the USA. Now there are 32 LPGA members from South Korea, and fittingly Pak became the seventh different player from her country to win in 14 tournaments this season.
"She's the face of Korean golf," Webb said. "All the young Korean players out here, if they don't already know, they should know now how much she's done for them."
Injuries and burnout have given her little cause for joy on the course. The low point came a year ago when Pak said she hated golf and wanted to get away from the game.
Sunday, she jumped back into her Hall of Fame form.
"I'm a very lucky person," Pak said. "I'm still trying to play the best as I can and trying to have some more fun out there."
Sorenstam makes run: Sorenstam made four consecutive birdies on the back nine to get to 6 under, in contention for her fourth consecutive LPGA Championship, but it wasn't enough in the end. A bogey on 18 dropped her back to 5 under and a tie for ninth.
Saturday, Sorenstam violated Rule 13-2 -- players cannot improve the position of their ball by removing a replaced divot -- and was given a two-shot penalty.
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