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ZURICH CLASSIC OF NEW ORLEANS

April 21, 2010

K.J. Choi

AVONDALE, LOUISIANA

MARK WILLIAMS: K.J. Choi, thanks for joining us here at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans interview room. We appreciate you coming back. You're a former winner of the Zurich Classic in '02. You've had a great year so far this year - nine starts, nine cuts. Very good playing, and of course lots of exposure playing with Tiger for four rounds of the Masters, finished second at Transition, so it's been a good start to the year for you. Just talk about the state of your game coming into the Zurich Classic and what you expect this week?
K.J. CHOI: Yeah, it's been a very good year so far for me. You know, last week I had some allergy problems, so it was kind of bothering me, and I felt a little bit tired, you know, as the week went by after the Masters.
But this week I feel more rested. New Orleans has a special place in my heart because this is where I won my first PGA tournament. Although this TPC course is different than the English Turn, when I came to play here last year, the course set up really good for me. I like the way it played. It's the type of course that I like, so I decided to come back here.
MARK WILLIAMS: Your year last year was probably disappointing by your standards, of course, obviously this year has been great. What have you done change-wise in your golf swing? Anything to make improvements? What have you been working on?
K.J. CHOI: Last year my swing, I tend to use my arms too much. So at impact it wasn't as solid. But little by little with my Coach, Steve Bann, we've worked on using more of the upper body muscles during the swing turn, and that's actually made my swing a lot more compact. So it's given me a lot of confidence, and I think that's what resulted in a good performance.

Q. The Masters must have been an exhausting week playing four rounds with Tiger. It looked like after the first round last week you kind of hit the wall. Is that what happened? You just got exhausted and it all kind of hit you at once?
K.J. CHOI: I think last week was more I lost focus a little bit. You know, playing with Tiger at the Masters for four rounds, that was a good experience. You know, it was a special week for me too.
But I can't make the excuse that I was physically tired last week. I think I just lost focus. After the first round, I shot 7 under, and then the next two or three rounds wasn't really that great.
But I felt like I lost focus, and also because of the allergy, you know, I had a runny nose, my head felt a little bit of a headache. So I couldn't really focus. I think that was the main issue.

Q. How do you like Pebble Beach, St. Andrews, and Whistling Straits?
K.J. CHOI: This being my tenth, 11th year on Tour now. I think I'm at a point in my career where all of the courses that I play, including the majors, they're going to be courses that I'm familiar with now. It's not a first-time course for me. I've played them at least once.
So earlier in my career, in the few years that I was here, every course just seemed like a new course, especially the majors. So I think I have that advantage now. You know, the familiarity with the courses. You know, I think if I just played my game in the next three majors and not get too ahead of myself, I think I'll have a good tournament. I definitely am looking forward to winning my first major hopefully in the next three majors.

Q. How does TPC Louisiana fit your game?
K.J. CHOI: This course, you know, the wind is definitely going to be a factor. The greens, your irons are going to have to be precise, because the greens and the target's going to be very small.
I think my irons are good so far and the greens have Bermuda greens, and I feel comfortable with Bermuda greens because I've won most of my PGA tournaments on Bermuda. So I feel good about this course. Also the layout, it just really fits my eyes very comfortably, so I like the layout a lot.

Q. You said that playing with Tiger for four days was a good experience for you. What made it a good experience? And seeing as how playing on such a national stage as the Masters and especially Tiger coming back after his situation, are there any experiences that you took from those four days with him that you can relate to us?
K.J. CHOI: I think what I learned the most is being able to adapt to that atmosphere where you have so much gallery fans which is rooting so much. What a player feels when you're playing with Tiger in that environment, the entire hole is just surrounded with all these galleries, you know, thousands of people.
I think playing with Tiger for those four days, you know, playing with him every single day in that environment helped me adapt more to that situation. And really at the same time still focus on my game, and I think that's what I learned.
I've become more used to that now. You know, in that environment, a lot of the players are going to feel intimidated. They're going to probably lose focus. But I think I hung in there very well, and I actually felt comfortable more as the days gone by.
What I tried to do because it was Tiger's first tournament coming back, I tried my best to make him feel comfortable so that he wouldn't feel awkward. And I think we had a very good time playing together. We both appreciated each other's presence.
For me, because my faith in the Lord, and I pray to the Lord every day, that helped me settle down and helped me focus on my game. I think that's why it was a very special week for me.

Q. What do you remember about your first win here in New Orleans? I know it was at a different course, but what do you remember from it?
K.J. CHOI: What I remember -- that's why you know this is very special for me, because that was my first win on the PGA TOUR. I still remember feeling very excited, thrilled. I felt like all the hair on my back was standing up when I won that tournament. A feeling of gratification and appreciating the fan support there. It was very special.
Even though this course is different from English Turn, you know the fact that it's being held in New Orleans, it brings that same atmosphere and aura. I have a lot of fan support here. There is a great Korean community. Despite it being a different course, I still feel at home here.

Q. One of the questions that we all have is what to expect from Tiger's golf going forward for the rest of the 2010. You having matched him shot for shot for four rounds. You are probably in a better position to make that prediction than anyone. What do you predict or what do you foresee from his game the rest of this year?
K.J. CHOI: I think he's going to do very well. You know, his ball striking, his confidence, the way he plays with the ball, the way he moves the ball around, that hasn't changed at all. It's still as sharp as before he made his comeback.
His putting is still there. It's very good. He was able to block off anything, at least I felt during that week, block off everything that happened off the course once he got on the golf course, he was able to block it off. He was able to focus. I think it's only going to get better as he feels more comfortable playing in the tournaments.

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