| K.J. Choi Charges On! |
|
|
|
| Written by Patrick Haley | |
| Friday, 01 September 2006 | |
 Kyoung-Ju Choi wanted to match up against the best golfers in the world. He didn’t leave Asia to golf professionally in the United States for its larger prize pools. Nor was he seeking to act as a trailblazer or become the first Korean to earn a PGA Tour card. Quite simply, K.J. Choi knew he could win at golf ’s highest level... “I didn’t want to end my career wondering how it might’ve been to play on the PGA Tour,” says the 36-year-old. “I wanted to test my waters against the best, shoulder to shoulder.” Since permanently earning a spot on the PGA Tour in 2001, Choi has proven his place is in the top tier of professional golf. Self-Taught Pro Choi’s route to professional golf was quite different from many of his fellow tour pros. A 2-year-old Tiger Woods was putting against Bob Hope on the “Mike Douglas Show,” and the prodigy shot a 48 for nine holes at age 3. But you won’t find footage of a young K.J. Choi. Choi didn’t take up golf until he was 16, when a high school teacher suggested he give the sport a try because Choi had “the right physique.” Choi soon was spending nearly every free minute at a local practice range, the only option on his home island of Wando, South Korea, which had no golf course. A former competitive weightlifter who could squat an amazing 350 pounds at age 13, Choi took to golf immediately. It could even be said that Choi’s first golf instructor was none other than Jack Nicklaus, from whom Choi learned the finer points of golf through the Golden Bear’s lesson books and training videos. Asian Success Points to the States Choi turned pro in 1994 and played on the Korean, Japanese, European and Asian tours in the early years of his career. Asian Success Points to the States Choi turned pro in 1994 and played on the Korean, Japanese, European and Asian tours in the early years of his career. In 1997 Choi finished first in the Korean tour’s Order of Merit. His first victory was the 1996 Korean Open, the win that put Choi on the South Korean World Cup team. The World Cup competition brought him to Kiawah Island, S.C. Choi liked his first taste of America and began working toward a full-time golf career in the United States and on the PGA Tour. With this new goal before him, he continued to practice and improve his game. In 1999 he finally broke through: Choi won the Japan Golf Tour’s Ube Kosan Open and Kirin Open, as well as the Asian Tour’s Kolon Korean Open. Those three victories brought confidence and earnings, and Choi decided it was time to leave Asia and try to join the PGA Tour. Back to School Choi’s victory at the Kirin Open, an international event, earned him an exemption into the final stage of PGA Tour Qualifying School. The final stage of Q-School is a six-round tournament in which the top-35 finishers earn tour cards. Choi started strong but dropped to 48th place after the fifth round. After a visit to a Korean church for worship, he came out for the sixth round confident and rejuvenated. He shot a 3-under for his final round and earned the 35th and final tour card. But success proved difficult in Choi’s first year on the tour. He missed a number of cuts in 2000 and managed only one top-10 finish. He ended the year in 134th place on the money list; only the top 125 golfers earn an automatic exemption onto the tour for the following season. But Choi managed to squeeze through Q-School once more, finishing 35th again in 2001. Having earned his tour card for the second straight year, Choi hoped his days of dreaded Q-School were over. “Tank” Rumbles to Victory  The 5-foot-8-inch, 185-pound Tank (a nickname given when he was a 95-pound 13-year-old power lifter who could squat an astonishing 350 pounds) won his first tournament in 2002 at the Compaq Classic in New Orleans. Choi considers this the greatest accomplishment of his career. “It was my first win on the PGA Tour and the first ever by a Korean,” says Choi. “It not only exposed my name out there but also the small island of Wando, where I grew up—and, on a bigger scale, it put Korea on the world stage.”Choi isn’t a particularly long driver, averaging about 275 yards off the tee. He features a solid iron game and relies heavily on accuracy. His former caddie, Casey Kerr, called Choi the “Korean Fred Funk.” It wasn’t until he got to the United States that Choi began working with a formal golf coach. He has studied under Phil Ritson and famed short-game master David Pelz, and continues to make strides with his game. Since his maiden victory, Choi has won twice more, and his career has progressed faster than even he anticipated. Choi said he laid out a 10-year plan for his career in 2002. However, his victories in New Orleans and at the Tampa Bay Classic and Chrysler Classic of Greensboro have caused him to tighten up his plans. He says he now has a new five-year plan that includes winning a major. Choi placed in the top 10 at this August’s PGA Championship at Medinah in suburban Chicago. His 10-under 278 included a 5-under 67 on the second and third days of the tournament. “I want to be able to win a major soon,” says Choi. “That would be my main goal for now. In the big picture, I want to be playing good golf consistently, maintaining a top-50 position in the world.” |
| < Prev |
|---|