Q. Over on the LPGA, the Koreans have won three weeks in a row. Do you feel any pressure trying to keep pace with them?
K.J. CHOI: It's good what the LPGA players are doing, but I'm not concerned about that. Right now I'm focused on this PGA tournament and I'm just trying to do the best I can from week-to-week. I'm not concerned about what happens on the LPGA right now.
Q. But are do you root for them? Do you pay attention to what's going on over there? Do you know them?
K.J. CHOI: Oh, I know them, of course.
Q. Does it inspire you that they can come over here and do so well?
K.J. CHOI: Well, I don't like to them to inspire him because I am here on my own. I'm like a trailblazer because I'm the first Korean ever to play on the PGA TOUR. So he's not looking at the girls and saying, oh, well because they are doing well, I'm doing well. I'm just concentrating on my own game.
Q. Are there not many opportunities for -- why are there not more Korean men on the PGA TOUR?
K.J. CHOI: There could be many reasons, but probably one of the general reasons, big reasons is that I can think of is because the men -- Korea is a very family-oriented society and it is centered based on -- tradition is based on male center. They take care of the family. For a male player to come over to the States, he would have to bring his whole family. Just economics, money-wise, it was difficult in the past. Not only that, not only the expenses related to, but coming over here, settling down, getting used to the new culture.
Also, the course conditions are much different here than back in Korea and just getting used to that. It took two years just to familiarize, feeling comfortable with the courses. A Korean male player has to invest a lot of time, money, and just -- it's a big investment.
So that's why in the past it's been very difficult. But you'll probably see that change, because more and more, Korean players are trying to come over here, and you hear about a lot of other Koreans playing in PGA tournaments or BUY.COM tournaments.
Q. Why do you think that Asian players have become so much more competitive of late? Shigeki is one; Shingo played great at the PGA last year?
K.J. CHOI: I think the main reason Asians are starting to do well on the PGA TOUR, it's a mind game. They have learned to adjust to the way it's being done on the PGA TOUR. They have become that much more comfortable with the TOUR and they try to -- they just work very hard in order to fit within the TOUR. They see how other players play, how other players adapt, and it's all about the mind. If you just put your mind to it, you could accomplish whatever you want.
And they realize that if they don't make it on this tour, they will have to go back home. Bringing the whole family over here, taking them back, it's not an easy thing. So they just try very hard to adapt to the PGA TOUR.
Q. Once you are a trailblazer, are there some names we should be looking forward to in Korean golfers that will make it out here? Is there a guy that might be out here in a year or two?
K.J. CHOI: One name I can think of is Charlie Wei (ph). He plays on the European Tour. He's got a good mindset.
I've not really met the young, upcoming golfers in Korea, so I really can't say.
Q. How was it, especially initially, coming over here, as the only Korean and being able to just adapt to the life-style and knowing the other golfers and that type of thing?
K.J. CHOI: The most difficult was getting to know the players. I tried very hard to familiarize myself and make friends out on the TOUR. That was the most difficult, and then second one was the whole environment, the atmosphere of the PGA TOUR. I knew that in order to play well, I had to get used to the TOUR itself. And then third was the culture and the language. Those three were the most difficult.
But once I got -- once I started getting close with other players, the wall that was built up, really, it kind of collapsed and got lower and lower, and now I feel very comfortable playing here.
Just every day conversations with players, that's not a problem. I get along very well with them. The only thing is doing interviews like today, because the reason -- I mean, I would like to do the interview by myself but the only reason that I have a translator is because I don't want to get the wrong -- even one word I say could be misinterpreted; and maybe I meant to say this, but then you guys assume that I said that, and that's what I wants to avoid. I want to relay the thought across. And I'm going to study very hard, just going to keep on trying.
Q. How much did it mean to get that first victory, get into the winner's circle? Obviously that had to help your mindset and be more comfortable out here knowing that you can win?
K.J. CHOI: Every week, you think about it. But that win was very important in terms of my own development, and also development of a golf career, because I felt that now that I had won, the expectation level is much higher. Not only myself, but the way outside people look at it.
So I feel that it's natural -- I know that I have to practice harder. I know that I have to -- I can't make any mistakes because now I've set my expectations higher than before.
So in order to keep it up, I can't -- I really have to work harder at it now. So I just feel that the win was very important, a personal goal.
End of FastScripts....
