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SONY OPEN IN HAWAIIJanuary 12, 2012K.J. ChoiHONOLULU, HAWAII JOHN BUSH: 5‑under par on a golf course that you're extremely comfortable. Comment on your first round. K.J. CHOI: I played yesterday the Pro‑Am, it's a little tired still, the body. After nine holes, six birdies on the first side, so my focus is today, 4‑ or 5‑under par is a very good start in the Sony Open 2012. Today, I play, iron control and then driving control, and then because windy. The green speed last week, at Kapalua wind blowing, speed, or today, calm, but it's still different speed. Inside 20 feet, it's many missed putts and wrong read. Still, 5‑under par, very happy round. So that's good position in 2012 in the Sony Open. Q. What about this course that you do well on, what do you like about this golf course that seems to suit your game so well? K.J. CHOI: Well, this course is pretty much an Open course. You just attack it the way you see it, and the wind, for me, I'm able to read the wind easier and I can control my iron shots better. For me, it's just a comfortable layout. You know, when I practice in Dallas at my home course, the Woodlands, the wind, it blows 20 to 30 miles back there, so I'm able to predict at what speed the wind is blowing just by looking at the pins, how much they stand when the wind blows. For me, I'm able to hit my draws and fade shots and depending on how strong the wind is. Q. How much do you feed off the gallery members? Obviously you're a very popular figure here in Hawai'i. K.J. CHOI: For me, yeah, I have a lot of fans here. For me to have so many people following me, that allows me to concentrate better, focus better. I'm not‑‑ I don't really tend to worry about, you know, whether the gallery is really moving or, you know, getting in my way as much as other players do. You know, other than the fact that if they are standing right behind you on the tee ground, that might bother me. But other than that, the gallery movement, that doesn't really bother me at all. So you know, I'm able to actually focus better when there's lots of attention and people there, yeah. Q. Just wondering what you did to prepare for the new season between playing The Presidents Cup and coming to Hawai'i. K.J. CHOI: Right after the Chevron World Challenge, I had a week off. Normally every year I bring over three junior golfers from the K.J. Choi Foundation in Korea, and they come during the off‑season. So I train with them; I teach them. This year, we went over to Tampa where it was warmer than Dallas. We went to the Saddlebrook Resort. They provided us with use of all of the facilities. For me, I was actually able to feed off of the Junior golfers by teaching them and by practicing with them and by training them, I gained a lot of training, as well. So it was a real good challenge for me. Q. The younger golfers in your country have said the Olympics is part of their motivation. For Noh, he's hoping to medal so he's exempt from military duty. How big of a deal is the Olympics for you? And when you were a scrawny weightlifter, did you dream of being in the Olympics in weightlifting? K.J. CHOI: Yeah, you know, when I was weightlifting back in high school, to be honest, I didn't even think about medaling and the Olympics, so that wasn't part of my dream. But it would have been probably good to represent Korea, but you know, that's‑‑ I can't think about that now. But in terms of the Olympics and making the golf team, yeah, that is something very honorable for me to do to represent Korea. In Korea, you know, their expectations are so high that if you don't win the gold medal, you know, it doesn't mean anything. (Laughter). For me to be able to make the team, I'm going to have to really take care of my body until 2016 and I have a lot of competition against myself, you know, with all of the Korean players coming up. So I have my work cut out for me to make the team. Q. I was going to ask how much motivation you get from younger players that are coming up from your country. And also, how much fun that is to have that competition. K.J. CHOI: Yeah, I do feed off of them. You know, it's very challenging for me. I enjoy the competitiveness. You know, there's a lot of players on the TOUR that's over 40 who are still having a prime time in their career. I actually feed off of them, as well; not only the young, upcoming players, but also the veterans. So it goes onto‑‑ it shows that, you know, out on the PGA TOUR, there's a very fair level of competitiveness, and for me to be able to play on the TOUR in the same era as all of the upcoming players, and also the veterans who are here performing, it's a very honoring experience for me. Q. You talked earlier about feeling comfortable and there's a lot of things that made you feel comfortable, but you didn't mention being from an island or being in an island state; how much is that a factor for you? K.J. CHOI: Yeah, of course, you look outside‑‑ we don't have the ‑‑ (indiscernible) ‑‑ water all around (laughter); so, yeah, it does feel like home. Yeah, there's a lot of similarities between Hawai'i and Wando, water all around, the wind, I'm really used to that. You know, this is my ninth time coming here so going to feel comfortable. But given the people here, it just feels like people at home, so it's very comfortable to me here. Q. How old were the junior golfers that you brought over and that you were playing with? K.J. CHOI: 14, 15, 20. Q. Is the 20‑year‑old playing on any tour? K.J. CHOI: He's a semi‑pro in Korea. Before you become a professional, you have to go to the stage of being a semi‑pro. Then you have to earn your way to become a professional. Q. The other question is, why are there so many strong women players and what's happening to the men? K.J. CHOI: I mean, on the men's tour, the level of competitiveness is so much deeper and the amount of practice, the amount of training that you have to survive out on the PGA TOUR is so much different than, you know, to me, the LPGA. Q. Last week at Kapalua, what did you feel you did best and where were you most frustrated? And second part was, the Juniors that you've taken each year, have you ever thought of bringing them here? K.J. CHOI: Here to Hawai'i? The first part, what was good for me, the best part about my game last week was the condition physically I was in; my physical condition was really top. But compared to my condition, the feel for the shots that I had wasn't really there earlier in the week. So I sort of had to play catch‑up, and mentally I guess that's where I was kind of frustrated, because I knew my body was good but the feel for the shots wasn't really there. But as the week went by, it caught up and I had more comfort. I think in probably the near future, it would be a good idea to bring them over here, yeah. JOHN BUSH: Thank you for your time. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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