Legendary golfer Park Se-ri becomes talk show host with 'SeriMoney Club'

The cast of talk show “SeriMoney Club,” Yang Se-chan, from left, Park Se-ri and Kim Jong-kook, pose with golf balls during the online conference of the show, Wednesday. Courtesy of JTBC

By Lee Gyu-lee

Since retiring in 2016, legendary golfer Park Se-ri has been wearing several different hats from founder of golf education startup to national golf team coach to a celebrity appearing in reality TV shows like “I Live Alone” and “Sporty Sisters.”

In the new JTBC show “SeriMoney Club,” which kicked off Wednesday, Park adds another career achievement: a golf talk show host.

“As a professional player, I felt that there is a gap between me and the public about the image of golf. For many people, golf seemed to be much less accessible than other sports,” Park said during the online conference of the show, held on the day of its premiere.

“SeriMoney Club,” also starring comedian Yang Se-chan and singer Kim Jong-kook, invites guests from different fields to its golf club to share their personal stories while playing golf against the cast members with a donation at stake.

In the first episode, Kim Min-cheol, the CEO of English conversation training company Yanadoo, joined the show and shared his story and how he became the founder of the fast-growing company.

Park said playing golf with donation challenges with the guests was her idea to give a more meaningful purpose to the show.

“I am one of those people who didn't think golf alone will be a good topic for a variety show. But If we are going to do golf, then I thought we might as well combine those two things, and do it for a good cause,” she said. “So I pitched the idea of donations and the production team thankfully accepted it.”

Chief producer Sung Hee-seong said he decided to run this show due to a growing interest in golf.

“Golf has been growing in popularity lately … so I thought it would be a good fit for a variety show,” he said. “And from the start, we had Park in mind as the central host of the show … if she didn't accept the role, our show wouldn't have been possible.”

A poster for the show / Courtesy of JTBC

He explained the production team went through a long process of persuading Park to host the show as she was reluctant at first.

“When we first tried to cast her, she said she was 'sick and tired of golf',” he said, adding that he could see her love-hate feeling towards the sport. “We intend for our show to unfold stories that have never been told in other shows, by using golf.”

Kim who acts as the golf club's secretary expressed that the program shows the positive aspects of golf.

“I was able to meet people who otherwise I could never have met through golf. And this show lays out the merits of playing golf which offers a new experience in life and chances to meet new people,” he said.

Park also shared the positive sides of playing golf and her hope for the sport to become more popularized.

“Golf can be enjoyed across all generations, whether you are old or young… it doesn't require intense physicality and you can take your time to have a nice long conversation with other players while playing,” she said. “I think that is one of the reasons that more and more people are beginning to play golf. I think the sport will become less expensive here as it becomes more popularized.”

“SeriMoney Club” airs Wednesdays at 10:30 p.m.