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THE BARCLAYS

August 21, 2007

K.J. Choi

HARRISON, NEW YORK

STEWART MOORE: We'd like to welcome K.J. Choi as we kick off the inaugural FedExCup Playoffs. You've had a great season, you come into the Playoffs 11th in the standings, talk about your excitement and obviously the ensuing four weeks leading up to THE TOUR Championship.
K.J. CHOI: I feel really good. I'm very excited about the Playoffs. It's my eighth year being on the TOUR now, this is my best year so far performance-wise, and with my two wins, I feel my game is at a very high level right now. I'm just looking very forward to the next four weeks. Obviously I hope to be playing all of it. I feel really good right now.

Q. What's the most you've played in a row?
K.J. CHOI: From my memory, I think it was back in 2000, I played like eight straight weeks in a row and I missed a cut in 7 of them. (Laughter).

Q. What, if anything, were you able to accomplish today with the rain being what it is?
K.J. CHOI: Last week was an off-week for me after the PGA; I really needed that rest.
Coming to the course this morning, there was a lot of rain. I anticipated the whole week having a lot of rain. I noticed that practicing this morning that the greens on the northern side of the course, when it rains, the ball tends to spin a lot. So I practiced a lot of shots with less spin and I practiced a lot of putting and just tried to put myself in a good position to get ready for this week.

Q. Do you approach this as just another golf tournament, or is this something a little bit different, almost like a TPC or a Memorial, something of that nature?
K.J. CHOI: I think it's a very important tournament because it's the start point of the FedExCup Playoffs, and I think players who play well this week are going to put themselves in a good position for the next stretch of tournaments.
It's the starting point of getting to THE TOUR Championship, so I think it's very -- it should have a lot of meaningful impact on a lot of players, and I feel it's definitely an important week for me.

Q. Can you talk about playing in the New York area, with the large Korean population, and a lot more restaurant options this week?
K.J. CHOI: Yeah, you know what, I've been coming to Westchester the past few years, and although there's always been a lot of Korean fans and Korean food and restaurants, unfortunately my performance really didn't live up to the good Korean food and the fans here.
For some reason, the courses here in the northern side of the U.S., the poa annua greens, I wasn't able to really adjust well to them. But I'm really hoping that this week is going to be different, and especially with me playing well lately, I think the Korean fans have a lot of expectations and obviously having a lot of good Korean restaurants in the area is going to make me feel comfortable.

Q. Maybe you should go to Ruth's Chris and mix it up.
K.J. CHOI: Mix it up. (Laughing).

Q. I believe there are 45 women on the LPGA Tour from Korea and there are considerably less on the PGA TOUR; biggest reason?
K.J. CHOI: The two biggest things I think is the course conditions is a lot different on the PGA TOUR than the LPGA Tour, so that's probably a big reason.
Second reason is I think for men, for Korean men to come over to the U.S., they are not coming alone. Because men in Korea are more of a father figure; they are like the foundation of family. They take care of the whole family. They have a lot of responsibility on the men's side.
So for them to move to the U.S., they are not moving by themselves. They are taking the whole family, kids with them, so that brings a lot of responsibility, not only do you have to adjust to the new lifestyle, but you have to worry about whether your kid, your wife are going to be feeling comfortable in the new culture.
And the whole family moving over here, it doesn't come cheap. There's a lot of expense that's involved with it. And what if you don't -- what if you fail? What if you don't adjust to the new culture? Then you're faced with having to go back to Korea and moving your whole family back. There's a lot of responsibility on the men's side.
So I think the infrastructure between the LPGA and the PGA Tour and how the players adjust in play is a lot different. And especially going back to talking about the course, the roughs on the PGA TOUR courses are very long and it's a lot different than the LPGA. The course design is a lot more difficult. So it's a big challenge for Korean men to come over here.

Q. Of course, Tiger Woods is not in the tournament, but as well as he's been playing, are you relieved that he's not here?
K.J. CHOI: You know, I really don't think that Tiger not being here is going to give anyone a better chance or not, because you have all of the best players on the TOUR here this week. He's not the only one that's not here.
I think it's a matter of who adjusts to the weather conditions, to the greens, better. I noticed that the roughs this week are very long and very hard. And whoever is able to adjust themselves to these conditions are going to have a better chance of winning this week.

Q. What's the most tournaments in a row you can play before you stop playing your best?
K.J. CHOI: I think for me, it's probably like the third tournament or -- third or fourth tournament is when I really play at my best, because you've had all of the time to warm up.
I feel when I've played eight tournaments in a row, like in 2000, I remember by the fifth week, I was so worn out, I couldn't even -- all my shots were weak and I had no energy. So for guys who are playing four weeks in a row, I think whoever is able to efficiently use, save their energy and use it during the final week is going to have a good chance of winning.

Q. And secondly as a quick follow, you mentioned at Firestone about want to go give the $10 million away for want to go help American and Korean children and babies, he's both. Do you realize now the $10 million is deferred and you won't get it until you're retired?
K.J. CHOI: Yeah, I know when I said that, I really didn't have a clear understanding of how the money was going to be paid out. But having said that, I still feel if I may able to win the $10 million, in some form, some way, I still want to contribute whatever I can to children, to charities here in the U.S. and Korea. And just thinking about that there's a possibility out there that I may be able to win it and help these kids, it just motivates me even more to play well.

Q. To follow up on the other side of the question, why are the Korean women so successful?
K.J. CHOI: I think because basically, who works hard, who works harder; it comes down to a matter of effort. And Korean LPGA players, they are very -- I know for a fact they work very hard, and they have the support of their family. And just basically I think Koreans in general have a very strong mental mind, and especially the Korean people. We have had a history of a lot of wars in the past, and I think through that, our economy has revived and the whole process has made Korean women successful.

Q. Do you have a favorite player on the LPGA?
K.J. CHOI: Se Ri Pak.

Q. Thought you were going to say Natalie Gulbis.
K.J. CHOI: (Chuckles).

Q. If there were 30 Korean men on the PGA TOUR, would you speak English as well as you do now?
K.J. CHOI: I can't really say how well I can speak English if that was the case, but for me, just learning a new language at such a late age, I think that takes a lot of -- it's very difficult for me to pick up the language as fast as I want to pick it up.
And I think I have a lot of hard time just learning the whole meanings behind the word or phrases, because, you know, it not easy learning a new language when you come to a new country as late as I did in my 30s.

End of FastScripts

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