Dictionary Thesaurus Word Dynamo Quotes Reference Translator Spanish

Choi Kyung-Ju

Choi Kyung-Ju
Personal Information

Birth	Wando, South Korea
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Weight	185 lb (84 kg)
Nationality
Residence	The Woodlands, Texas
College	Gwangju University
Career
Turned Pro	1994
Current tour	PGA Tour (joined 1992)
Professional wins	14 (PGA Tour: 7, European Tour: 1, Asian Tour: 4, Japan Golf Tour: 2)
Best Results in Major Championships
Masters	3rd: 2004
U.S. Open	T15: 2005
The Open Championship	T8: 2007
PGA Championship	T6: 2004

Choi Kyung-Ju (born May 19, 1970) is a South Korean professional golfer. He is known as K. J. Choi in many countries. He is the most internationally successful Asian male golfer of all time, though he has not achieved the same level of success as several of his South Korean female compatriots such as LPGA hall of fame player Se Ri Pak and Grace Park have in women's golf.

Biography

Choi was born in Wando, South Korea. After establishing his career on the Asian Tour , where he picked up his first professional win at the 1996 Korean Open, and the Japan Golf Tour, where he won twice in 1999, Choi qualified for membership of the U.S. based PGA Tour by finishing tied 35th at the 1999 qualifying tournament. He was the first Korean to earn a PGA Tour card. In his rookie season in 2000 he finished 134th on the money list and had to requalify, but since 2001 he has been a consistent performer on the tour. In 2002 he became the first Korean to win on the PGA Tour at the Compaq Classic of New Orleans, and followed this up with another win at the Tampa Bay Classic in the same year. In 2003 he won the Linde German Masters on the European Tour.

Choi won Jack Nicklaus's Memorial Tournament in 2007. He mentioned on CBS during the AT&T National that he read Jack Nicklaus's "Golf My Way" book early in his golf career, which assisted him in becoming the golfer he is today.

Choi won the first AT&T National hosted by Tiger Woods at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland. The trophy is a small replica of the United States Capitol building in Washington, DC. He made a spectacular sand trap shot on the 17th hole for a birdie to clinch the win over Steve Stricker by 3 shots. Choi was a crowd favorite and threw his golf ball into the crowd after holing his sand shot on the 17th hole.

Choi represented South Korea in the WGC-World Cup in 2002, 2003 and 2005, and was a member of the International Team in the Presidents Cup in 2003 and 2007. In August 2007 he reached the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time. In January 2008, Choi won the Sony Open in Hawaii and rose to world number 7. In March 2008, Choi reached fifth place in the rankings. He has spent over 20 weeks in the top-10 of the rankings.

Before picking up golf Choi was a competitive power lifter, being able to squat 350 pounds as a 95 pound 13 year-old teenager, thus aptly nicknamed "Tank" by South Koreans.

After his 7th PGA Tour victory at the 2008 Sony Open in Hawaii, Choi donated $320,000 of his earnings to the victims' families of a warehouse fire in Seoul, South Korea, which killed over forty people.

Professional wins (14)

PGA Tour wins (7)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s) up
1.	May 5, 2002	Compaq Classic of New Orleans	-17 (68-65-71-67=271)	4 strokes	Dudley Hart, Geoff Ogilvy
2.	Sept. 22, 2002	Tampa Bay Classic	-17 (63-68-68-68=267)	7 strokes	Glen Day
3.	Oct. 2, 2005	Chrysler Classic of Greensboro	-22 (64-69-67-66=266)	2 strokes	Shigeki Maruyama
4.	Oct. 29, 2006	Chrysler Championship	-13 (68-66-70-67=271)	4 strokes	Paul Goydos, Brett Wetterich
5.	Jun. 3, 2007	Memorial Tournament	-17 (69-70-67-65=271)	1 stroke	Ryan Moore
6.	Jul. 8, 2007	AT&T National	-9 (66-67-70-68=271)	3 strokes	Steve Stricker
7.	Jan. 13, 2008	Sony Open in Hawaii	-14 (64-65-66-71=266)	3 strokes (wire-to-wire)	Rory Sabbatini

European Tour wins (1)

2003 Linde German Masters

Asian Tour wins (4)

Japan Golf Tour wins (2)

1999 Kirin Open, Ube Kosan Open

Results in major championships

Tournament	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
The Masters	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	T15	3	T33	CUT	T27	41
U.S. Open	CUT	T30	DNP	DNP	DNP	CUT	T31	T15	CUT	CUT	CUT
The Open Championship	DNP	DNP	CUT	T49	DNP	T22	T16	T41	CUT	T8	T16
PGA Championship	T29	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	T69	T6	T40	T7	T12	CUT