	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

SONY OPEN IN HAWAII

January 11, 2008

K.J. Choi

HONOLULU, HAWAII

STEWART MOORE: We'd like to welcome our current second-round leader K.J. Choi to the interview room at the Sony Open in Hawai'i. Fantastic second round 65 out there, birdies on the last three holes. One thing I just noticed on your resumé, you've had four 36-hole leads in your PGA TOUR career. You've won every time in that situation.
K.J. CHOI: (Laughing).
STEWART MOORE: You're tough to beat as a front-runner.
K.J. CHOI: Okay, I'll try (laughing).
Yeah, I didn't expect to really play this well, but I'm playing well right now. My rhythm overall is really good, and just getting a lot of support from the fans, and it's really making me feel comfortable.

Q. Talking about feeling comfortable, you said you've made an adjustment to your putting. Today you looked wonderful on the back nine rolling the putts. Is this about as comfortable as you can feel?
K.J. CHOI: Yeah, in the past when I putted, I didn't really -- I sort of had a tendency to not place a specific emphasis on something, but this week, recently, I've learned and trained myself to set up a line, a box, so to speak, just an imaginary box, and that's helped me a lot.

Q. Are you still using the recent equipment that you bought off The Golf Channel?
K.J. CHOI: Yeah (laughing). Looks ugly (laughing).

Q. What is it?
K.J. CHOI: Yeah, it's the Super Stroke grip. I've used it since last year. It really helps me to have my body, my arms, closely fit to my body, not having to go all the way around. Just it makes my arms compact to my body, and it takes the wrist action out, and just every putt it makes me feel comfortable.

Q. Have you had many other players ask you about it?
K.J. CHOI: Yeah. Just one thing, comfortable. Some pressure in the grip and then too much in the fingers in the pressure, and it's stuck in the follow-through. And then every time left to right putt and the energy is gone. Every time the right side miss. This week, never right side, left side miss. It's a very consistent follow-through.

Q. How much have you thought about becoming the first Asian-born winner of a major championship?
K.J. CHOI: I didn't really think about it until like five years ago, when I first learned -- when I really realized that there hadn't been an Asian major winner. I think majors are tough to win. You know, it's something that you're blessed with.
In my case, I think the Lord, when he thinks that it's time for me to win it, I think he'll give it to me. Just to know that I have a goal to achieve, that there's a major that I want to win, you know, it gives me the motivation to even work harder and shoot for that goal. And I think that makes me mentally stronger, and it's a motivating factor to have such a goal like that. I'll try my best, and if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. I'm not going to dwell on it, but it's something I'm going to prepare myself for.

Q. Do you feel any expectation from Korean fans and all the Asian fans around the world, willing you on to win that first major?
K.J. CHOI: Having all those fans support me, I'm really lucky to have those fans to support me. Without their love and support, I don't think I would have been here now at this point. And just to know that they're behind me, I feel like when I'm out there that we're winning, and that really gives me a lot of motivation.

Q. You've always seemed to play well first round here in the last five years and not so good in the second round. Are you aware of that, and was it important for you to follow a good score yesterday with a good one today?
K.J. CHOI: I didn't really feel pressure because I never really think about that, whether I play the first round well I have to match it up again the next day. From my memory, those five years, I think I didn't really have the luck of the draw because I would play well in the morning but in the afternoon I'd get the strong wind. But over the years I've really adjusted myself, trained myself to play well in the windy conditions, and I practiced it. Even in Texas, you get the Texas winds, so I'm more comfortable now. I think what I'm concentrating on these days is adjusting to the wind each day instead of worrying about how I played the first two, three rounds. That's the key.

Q. In what way do you feel your game is good on Waialae?
K.J. CHOI: I think it's twofold. First of all, it's the putting. This course, the winds are constant. It blows from one direction to the other, and I think I'm adjusting myself. My game fits that very well.
The greens, you don't see a lot of undulations. There's not much up-and-down; it's pretty flat. That's one of the strong points. The greens may look easy, but you've got to really look at it in detail because there's a little bit of intricacies involved with it.
And I think the shots that I'm hitting since last year, the cut shots, are really helping out. I think this course you have to hit a lot of fades, and it's good to have a cut shot in your bag.

Q. Coming back to where we were talking about Korean players, my question is you're the outstanding star coming out of Korea from the male players. There are a lot of women. Why is there such a divergence here and such a lack of stars coming out from the male side as far as the rest of Asia and Korea is concerned versus what you see on the women's side of the game?
K.J. CHOI: Tough question. I get asked that question a lot, but I always say from my perspective it's not just a simple answer. It's very complex if you think about it because as a Korean male, we have to do our military service in Korea. When you're at your prime age, you have to go to the Army, so that takes a lot out of you.
And then when you decide to come over to the U.S., you not only have to come by yourself but you have to bring -- if you're married you have to bring the whole family. If you look at a bigger picture, there's a lot more that the male players have to do as opposed to the women. And also the course setup on the PGA TOUR is I think a lot more difficult than what they play on the LPGA.
But if you think about it, we're getting more and more younger Korean players on the PGA TOUR. I think right now there's a total of six, if you include the Korean-Americans, and I think the number will quickly get bigger and bigger.

Q. So what's your reaction when the Korean women say that the reason is the women are just better than the men?
K.J. CHOI: More practice (laughter).

Q. A lot of the Korean women, they say Insam.
K.J. CHOI: I don't think it's Insam.
MICHAEL YIM: He endorses ginseng drinks.

Q. I thought I read a story once that when you wanted to get married, your wife's parents weren't real sure about what kind of future you had in front of you, something like that.
K.J. CHOI: Actually that was before I turned pro. When I met my wife and we wanted to get married, I didn't have my professional membership in Korea yet, and at that time people questioned whether life as a professional golfer was stable. The way I convinced them, convinced my wife's parents, was that I would prove myself. I would be successful. And when I got my first win, they approved (laughter).
I don't think it's just me, but back then the notion about the job of being a professional golfer wasn't received well because a lot of the uncertainties involved, and I think a lot of the other pros went through what I did in Korea.
They weren't against the fact that I wanted to be a professional golfer; I think they were against the fact that as a golfer your income really isn't -- it's very uncertain, so that's what they were against. They thought there was a lot of risk factor involved.
But when they looked at my eyes, they saw that I had the passion, the urge to succeed, and I think once they read that in my eyes, that's when they approved.

Q. Who took the bigger risk, you on your golfing career on your wife on marriage?
K.J. CHOI: I think it was both of us. We both took the risk. But going through this over the years, going through it together, I think we've both been there to support each other, to help each other, to be there for each other. I surely wouldn't have gotten here without her. And I think we both just -- it was more of a mutual understanding, and to make a better family, a better life, and that's why we're here right now.

Q. Just to clarify, did you get married after the first win?
K.J. CHOI: Yeah, 1995.

Q. It's not like you couldn't get married until you won?
K.J. CHOI: No (laughter). There wasn't a pre-condition whether I had to win. It was just try hard and I'll prove it.

Q. As you look to where you are now, Top 10 in the world and all these victories, would you have dreamed back then when they saw that look in your eye that you would have been able to accomplish this?
K.J. CHOI: I don't think anybody at that time knew that I would get to where I am right now. When I passed Q-school back in '99, everybody around me said that I probably won't even last a year out there. But I think I've been blessed by the Lord that now being here in 2008, I'm still here. Without the help of my wife, I wouldn't be here right now.

Q. When did you do your military service? Did that interrupt your golf?
K.J. CHOI: 21, 22, two years.

Q. Where?
K.J. CHOI: Wando, my hometown.
For me it didn't really interrupt my golf because my service, the way it was done was I would go home for a day. It was more of a going back and forth between the base. So I would have a day off and I would be able to do whatever I wanted to. It wasn't really an interruption.

Q. What kind of job did you have?
MICHAEL YIM: He didn't have a job but he could at least practice a little bit.

Q. What kind of military were you?
K.J. CHOI: I was a guard by the beaches, stationed on the beach.

Q. A week ago at Kapalua what did you think the chances were of you leading Sony at this point?
K.J. CHOI: You know, I didn't really think about it, think that I was going to lead. But after the third round I really found my rhythm coming back. My putting was getting better, and I was actually motivated. I knew that I was going to play better than last week, but I didn't really think about being in the lead or anything.
STEWART MOORE: K.J., thanks for coming in. Best of luck this weekend.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297