A teen dream, 19-year-old Inbee Park handles the wind and field

The first step in developing the 63rd U.S. Women's Open champion began at 3 a.m. July 7, 1998, when Sung Kim and Jungyu Park screamed loudly enough to awaken 9-year-old Inbee Park in the upstairs bedroom of the family's home in Pundang, South Korea.

"I didn't know what they were doing," Park said. "I just woke up and was like, 'What are you guys doing?' And they were like, 'We're watching golf.' I didn't know what that was. So I sat down, half asleep, and watched TV."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, in Kohler, Wis., then-LPGA Tour rookie Se Ri Pak was winning a 20-hole playoff at Blackwolf Run Golf Club to become the first Korean and the youngest player (20) to win a U.S. Women's Open championship.

Two days later, Jungyu took Inbee to a nearby practice facility, where she touched a golf club for the first time. Ten years later, on a windy Sunday afternoon at Edina's Interlachen Country Club, little Inbee shot a 2-under-par 71 to win the U.S. Women's Open with a 9-under 283 that made her four shots better than runner-up Helen Alfredsson (75).

"I really can't believe I just did this," said Park, who at 19 is now the youngest to win this championship. "I mean especially with all these big names on the trophy that have been very, very successful."

One of the biggest -- three-time winner Annika Sorenstam -- holed out from 199 yards for an eagle on the par-5 18th in her last U.S. Women's Open shot before retiring at the end of this season. Unfortunately, it was for a 78, a 3-over 295 and a tie for 24th. But it did beat No. 1-ranked Lorena Ochoa, whose 1-over 74 completed one of her worst Women's Open performances at 5-over 297, good for a tie for 31st.

Park was on the 15th hole with a four-shot lead and a relatively small following when Sorenstam holed out. Park finished with four consecutive pars, showing little emotion until she reached the 18th hole and won for the first time as a professional.

She raised both arms, putter in one hand, and smiled. She kissed her golf ball and lobbed it into the gallery as two of her Korean friends on the LPGA Tour -- 20-year-old In-Kyung Kim and 28-year-old Jeong Jang -- doused her with bottles of Budweiser.

Park hugged her mother, who was sobbing. Then her caddie, Brad Beecher, handed her a cup of Budweiser, which she gulped half empty near the clubhouse. Not long after that, Beecher's fellow caddies got him back down to the 18th green, where they threw him in the nearby pond.

Ironically, Pak was not there to see it. The Hall of Famer missed the cut in a U.S. Women's Open for the first time in her career. But she obviously played a role in who won.

"I would really like to thank Se Ri for what she's done for golf, for Korean golf," Park said. "She did a lot to inspire a lot of us 19-year-old girls, because we were all born in 1988."

In 1997, the year before Pak won two majors as a rookie, the LPGA Tour had no Korean players. Today, it has 45. In this year's U.S. Women's Open, 26 Asians and 25 Americans made the cut.

"Inbee is a great player, and she's been very steady," said Alfredsson, who was paired with Park on Sunday. "So she's one of the Koreans that I know the name of. There's so many of them that we're trying to remember all these names."

Park began the day two shots behind Stacy Lewis and a shot behind Paula Creamer. Starting birdie-birdie in the group ahead of Lewis and Creamer, Park quickly tied Lewis for the lead.

When Creamer and Lewis both double-bogeyed the par-5 second hole -- which played as the easiest hole of the week -- Park suddenly had a two-shot lead.

"I definitely thought they would each make a birdie on the second hole," said Park, who bogeyed Nos. 6 and 8, made a good par on 9 and then never lost the lead on the back nine. "I was just surprised. I think always the winner doesn't win by herself. I think it's second place who really makes the winner. I guess that helped."

Lewis shot 78 and finished tied for third at 4 under. Creamer also shot 78 and tied for sixth at 3 under.

Only eight of 74 players broke par on a day when the pin placements were more difficult, particularly on the front nine, and the wind swirled and gusted in all different directions. The only subpar round in the final six groups belonged to Park.

"Her round was amazing," Lewis said. "The wind was hard out there. It was swirling every hole. You couldn't get a general direction of the wind at all. It was hard to trust the clubs that you had, if you even had the right club. She definitely deserves to win."

Park's only regret was not having her father with her. He was going to try to catch a flight on Saturday, but Inbee told him to stay home and enjoy it on TV.

"They probably caught almost all of it," she said. "They were probably up at maybe 3 in the morning and watched until 6."

And no doubt yelled louder than they ever did back in 1998.