Choi Kyung-ju

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KJ Choi
Choi Kyung-Ju.jpg
Choi Kyung-ju (2012)
Personnel
Nation: Korea SouthSouth Korea South Korea
Nickname: tank
Career data
Professional since: 1993
Current tour: PGA TOUR
Tournament wins: 20th
Major wins : no
Korean spelling
Hangeul 최경주
Hanja 崔 京 周
Revised
Romanization 		Choe Gyeong-ju
McCune-
Reischauer 		Ch'oe Kyŏngju

Choi Kyung-ju (born May 19, 1970 in Wando , South Korea ) is the most internationally successful male professional golfer in South Korea. He is better known to most golf enthusiasts under the name KJ Choi . Its female counterpart Pak Se-ri is even more successful.

Career

Choi started his career in 1993 on the regional Korea Golf Tour before turning to the Asian Tour , where he celebrated his first victory at the Korean Open in 1996 . He also played the Japan Golf Tour , on which he was twice successful in 1999. In the same year, Choi became the first Korean ever to qualify for the North American PGA TOUR . The first season (2000) he finished 134th in the ranking, so Choi had to qualify again. But since 2001 he has been playing consistently on this tour and in 2002 was able to book his first tournament victory at the Compaq Classic of New Orleans , which he followed in the same year with another at the Tampa Bay Classic . In the following year, Choi also won the European Tour and took the title at the Linde German Masters . In 2007, after two wins, several top placements and more than $ 4.5 million in prize money, he came fifth on the PGA Tour money list.

He played for his country in the WGC World Cup in 2002, 2003 and 2005, and was on the international team of the Presidents Cup in 2003 and 2007. Choi appears in the top 50 of the golf world rankings .

Before his golf career, the son of a rice farmer competed in weightlifting and lifted 170 kilograms as a 13-year-old. That is why it is also called "tank" (English for "tank") in its homeland. He is married, has two children and lives in The Woodlands ( Texas ).

Tournament victories

Results at major championships

Tournament 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Masters DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP T15 3 T33 CUT T27 41 CUT T4 T8 CUT
US Open DNP DNP DNP CUT T30 CUT T31 T15 CUT CUT CUT T47 T47 CUT T15
Open Championship CUT T49 DNP DNP CUT T22 T16 T41 CUT T8 T16 CUT CUT T44 T39
PGA Championship DNP DNP DNP T29 CUT T69 T6 T40 T7 T12 CUT T24 T39 T39 T54
Tournament 2013 2014
Masters T46 T34
US Open T32 DNP
Open Championship T44 CUT
PGA Championship T47 CUT

DNP = not participated
CUT = Cut not made
"T" split placement
Green background for victories
Yellow background for top 10

Web links

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Korean. Choi is the family name here, Kyung-ju is the first name.
personal data
SURNAME Choi, Kyung-ju
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Choi, KJ; 최경주 (Hangeul); 崔 京 周 (Hanja)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South Korean golfer
DATE OF BIRTH May 19, 1970
PLACE OF BIRTH Wando , South Korea