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THE BARCLAYS

August 26, 2007

K.J. Choi

HARRISON, NEW YORK

STEWART MOORE: K.J. Choi, thanks for spending a few moments with us in the interview room here at The Barclays. Great play today, final round 70, you came up a little bit short but with your play today you moved up into second place in the FedExCup points week heading into next week's Deutsche Bank Championship. Talk about your mano-a-mano battle with Steve Stricker today and your play today overall.
K.J. CHOI: Today I didn't start off very well but I got back into form on the back nine. I shot 3-under.
You know, just coming in in second place in the first FedExCup Playoff tournament is very meaningful for me. I'm going to take this as a good experience and then obviously try to do my best in the next three tournaments.
You know, playing with Steve Stricker today, he was just on a roll. He played so great today out there today. I learned a lot from him just watching him play today, so I think that's going to help me a lot for the Deutsche Bank Championship next week.

Q. What did you learn from him today watching him play?
K.J. CHOI: Just basically the short game, he had a great short game out there today. His putting was great. I just observed the way he putted, his motions, just little things like that. His overall plan, strategy for playing the course today was like a veteran out there. So those are the things that I learned.

Q. I know you're disappointed not to win the tournament; but are you disappointed to have left a couple thousand FedExCup points on the table? Does that sting, as well, leaving those points?
K.J. CHOI: You know, it's okay. I'm not really concerned about the points. The points will come. I'm just happy that, you know, I was able to get back, fight back the way I did.
In the beginning, my caddie, Andy, told me that my swing rhythm was a little bit too fast, so I kind of slowed it down. Just the way that I was down four strokes going into the back nine, I was able to catch up. So I'm very happy about the way I finished up, and I take it -- it was a very meaningful week for me. I studied how Steve played out there, and just his shots, just analyzing. He had a good rhythm out there and that's the important thing I was able to catch onto that.

Q. Is this beginning to be a rivalry between you and Steve? You went at it at the AT&T National and now you go at it here.
K.J. CHOI: No. No, not really. You know, everybody out there is a rival if you think about it. I think the important thing is battling yourself, battling yourself and just making sure that you have your own game, you find your own stroke, your rhythm.
There's so many good players out there. You know, it's really -- I can't really say that one person, you know, is my rival.
So I feel very good about my game and I think a lot of good things will happen.

Q. How does it feel to have more FedExCup points than Tiger right now?
K.J. CHOI: (Chuckling) yeah, I mean, obviously Tiger woods wasn't here this week but I'm sure he's going to gain owl of the points back.
I'm not really too concerned about the points. If you get too worried about the points or how many you're going to be earning, then you tend to lose focus. So I'm just going to focus on my next three tournaments and try to finish -- play well, and I think the rest will take care of itself.

Q. You had a large Korean/South Korean contingent out there. How did it feel having those fans support you? Did you see them and hear them, and how does it feel having that support?
K.J. CHOI: Yeah, just watching all of the fans out there today, you know, just rooting for me -- and the important thing is, they were out there really rooting and cheering me on passionately. I could feel that. And they were not shy about doing it. They are not shy about yelling my name out. I took a lot of confidence in that.
It was actually very fun watching them root for me. I think the way they supported me this week has helped me a lot.

Q. Would you tell me about your plan for your charitable foundation?
K.J. CHOI: Yeah, I'm just preparing it very step-by-step right now, because I'm here in the U.S. right now. There's a lot of things that I need to do when I get back to Korea in October and I'll look at it then.

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