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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY MORGAN STANLEY

May 27, 2008

K.J. Choi

DUBLIN, OHIO

(Answers through interpreter.)
LAURA NEAL: K.J., thank you for joining us here at the Memorial Tournament. Maybe just start with some opening comments on what it feels like to be back here at Jack's event where you had such a big win last year.
K.J. CHOI: I always love coming back to Muirfield. There's a special place in my heart for this tournament because it's the first tournament that Jack invited me over, the first tournament on the PGA TOUR that I played.
And it just -- I just have very good memories about it, just playing, getting the chance to playing with him -- actually playing with him in this tournament. That was very memorable.
And especially coming back here after my win last year, it just feels very special right now and I hope I can -- I'm preparing myself well to have another good week this week.
LAURA NEAL: Questions?

Q. How different is the approach for K.J. this week as the defending champion as opposed to in years past when you never won?
K.J. CHOI: Definitely my game is a lot different than in the previous years. I think my shots, my swing is a lot different than what it has been in the past, the way that I condition my body, the way I've been training for the past few years, so it's got a lot better. I'm more fit than in the past. And I think because of that I'll be able to play a little bit better. In terms of overall flow of the game, I think it will be better than the previous years. Last year I played well, but I think I would like to credit that to the Lord giving me the win.
I think this week, I think I'm going to be -- I'm well prepared compared to -- I haven't been playing well in the past, in a couple weeks, but I think I feel good this week. So I'm looking forward to a very good week this week.

Q. Are you more confident heading into this tournament since you've already won it as opposed to years past?
K.J. CHOI: Oh, definitely. I know this course, because I've won it. I know where you have to hit it and I know where you shouldn't hit it. So that gives me -- I think it gives me a lot of advantage, and even with the difficult holes, I know how to approach them. So I think having won this tournament before on this course, it definitely gives me the confidence and the edge that I need.

Q. I'm guessing one of the places where you shouldn't hit it is behind the green on 17 where you saved par. I wonder if you could talk about that shot.
K.J. CHOI: Yeah, playing the practice round today with my caddie, Andy, we were talking about that. We were at that hole on number 17 and visualizing what we did last year. We had 167 yards outs and I hit it with a 6-iron. And normally with a 6-iron I don't -- it shouldn't have gone over the green, but it did.
And we kind of joke, I think like he said, this year, you know, definitely we can't be doing that.
But being there, the golf swing is very -- it's funny, because even if you feel like in the middle of a round when you got the competitive feel going, adrenaline is running, sometimes shots that you normally don't -- you know, normally they don't go over, they tend to go over, so you can't really control that. But last year I felt like that even if the ball went over I felt like I could save par. I felt that good about it.
This year I noticed that the greens, the rough around the greens is two times longer than what it was last year. So it's going to be very tough if you miss the greens. I think the players need to watch out and try to get to know the green.

Q. I imagine last year winning the Nicklaus tournament must have been meaningful for you, because we went through all about how you learned reading the books and magazines and where that ranked him. On his victories, if not No. 1, where it would be?
K.J. CHOI: You know, this -- it's really hard to express in words how special this tournament is. Back when I was playing in Asia and Korea, this tournament was, it was like a tournament where you couldn't just go -- I mean, it's not something that you would go there and play. It's like it was, you know, you had to be at a certain level. It was off limits for just a player. It was that much special.
I remember just the closest I could get to this tournament was watching it through -- watching it on TV. But I was fortunate enough to get an invitation to this tournament nine years ago. And to have played with a legend like Jack at his tournament and now have won it last year, it is just so much special. It's really, I mean, it's easy to think about it, but it's really hard to express it, it's that much special for me.

Q. Did that Nicklaus book become a best seller again at home after you won?
K.J. CHOI: After I won people started asking, you know, just what is this book that Jack wrote that you had. You know, I got a lot of questions. Definitely there was a lot more interest about the book after I won. But I think that for someone like me, like we really didn't have anything growing up in terms of golf, to have something like that to guide me. The book explains about the basics of golf. I watched Jack playing growing up and I watched him on TV. It was my way of being close to him, watching him. Reading his thoughts, reading his principles about golf, I tried to, in my best ability, to live to imagine what he was thinking, to imagine what it's like being him. So I think that really that imagination really helped me a lot. And so people say, what good can a book do, but for me I think it does a lot of good for you, if you really know how to fall into it.

Q. Do you still do a lot of weight training and lifting, and if so, would you probably be able to lift more than anybody else on TOUR?
K.J. CHOI: No. Yeah, but back then I was weight lifter. You know, I was part of the weight lifting team in my school. So I had no choice but to lift heavy weights. But golf is a very different game, very different sport. You can't be lifting heavy weights here. If I still do -- I still do a lot of training using weights, but I try to keep it light enough, light, but heavy enough where you get resistance training. But mainly I focus on conditioning my body using lighter weights.

Q. Did you have a difficult time when you were younger? I guess you had to travel quite a ways for the golf course, to play on one. I can't remember whether you grew up on an island or something and when you would get there they would play like 54 holes in a day because you knew it might be awhile before you came back. Could you tell us that story?
K.J. CHOI: Yeah, I mean, I remember during the summer months starting in May you had longer days, so the sun would come up around six in the morning, so it was like a three-hour drive, so I had to leave the island where my home was at three in the morning to get to Kwongdo Country Club at six in the morning and they didn't have any driving range over there, so I would have breakfast and I would eat in five minutes and then, because there wasn't any driving range, I couldn't warm up, so I would just go straight to the teeing ground and just do a couple of practice swings and then tee off. And I remember it didn't get dark until like 8 or 8:30 in the evening, so I tried to get as many holes as I could, because I wanted to play -- when you're learning you're so into golf that you want to be able to hit more golf balls out at the golf course. So I tried to get as much in as possible.
But looking back, I think because I had those experiences, that urge to play golf, that I'm at where I am right now. Without that I don't think -- without that urge, without that drive and the motivation to play more, to hit more balls than other fellow competitors, without that, I don't think I would be where I am.

Q. How did you get to the course? Who gave you the ride? Your mom?
K.J. CHOI: Yeah, I used to go with -- drive with friends of the family or people that I knew, businessmen that I knew. We would be driving in a little truck, put all our golf clubs in the back and just -- it was very cheap back then. It was not more than 10 bucks, 10 dollars to play. So we just -- you know, it was pretty fun back then because I had -- I wasn't just playing by myself, it was with people that I knew, close people, so it was fun.

Q. Did you play until dark every time you went?
K.J. CHOI: Yes.

Q. How old were you then? Teenage?
K.J. CHOI: 15.

Q. When you're 15 you'll do anything to play.
K.J. CHOI: Yeah, exactly. Very boring, but very fun.
(Laughter.)
LAURA NEAL: K.J., thanks for coming in. Good luck this week.
K.J. CHOI: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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