Choi Kyung-Ju

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**Choi Kyung-Ju**
Personal Information

Birth	May 19, 1970 (1970-05-19) (age 37) Wando, South Korea
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Weight	185 lb (84 kg)
Nationality	South Korea
Residence	Houston, Texas
College	None
Career
Turned Pro	1994
Current tour	PGA Tour (joined 1992)
Professional wins	13 (PGA Tour: 6, Asian Tour: 4, Japan Golf Tour: 2, European Tour: 1)
Best Results in Major Championships
Masters	3rd: 2004
U.S. Open	T15: 2005
British Open	T8: 2007
PGA Championship	T6: 2004

Choi Kyung-Ju

Hangul	최경주
Hanja	崔京周
Revised Romanization	Choe Gyeong-ju
McCune-Reischauer	Ch'oe Kyŏng-ju

Choi Kyung-Ju (born May 19, 1970) is a South Korean professional golfer, who is better known to golf fans in many countries as K.J. Choi. He is the most internationally successful South Korean male golfer of all time, though he has not achieved the same level of success as several of his female compatriots such as LPGA hall of fame player Se Ri Pak and Grace Park have in women's golf.

He was born in Wando, South Korea. After establishing his career on the Asian Tour, where he picked up his first professional win at the 1996 Korean Open, and the Japan Golf Tour, where he won twice in 1999, Choi qualified for membership of the U.S. based PGA Tour by finishing tied 35th at the 1999 qualifying tournament. He was the first Korean to earn a PGA Tour card. In his rookie season in 2000 he finished 134th on the money list and had to requalify, but since 2001 he has been a consistent performer on the tour. In 2002 he became the first Korean to win on the PGA Tour at the Compaq Classic of New Orleans, and followed this up with another win at the Tampa Bay Classic in the same year. In 2003 he won the Linde German Masters on the European Tour.

Choi won Jack Nicklaus's Memorial Tournament in 2007. He mentioned on CBS during the AT&T National that he read Jack Nicklaus's "Golf My Way" book early in his golf career, which assisted him in becoming the golfer he is today.

Choi won the first AT&T National hosted by Tiger Woods at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland. The trophy is a small replica of the United States Capitol building in Washington, DC. He made a spectacular sand trap shot on the 17th hole for a birdie to clinch the win over Steve Stricker by 3 shots. Choi was a crowd favorite and threw his golf ball into the crowd after holing his sand shot on the 17th hole.

Choi represented South Korea in the WGC-World Cup in 2002, 2003 and 2005, and was a member of the International Team in the Presidents Cup in 2003 and 2007. In August 2007 he reached the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time.

Before picking up golf Choi was a competitive power lifter, being able to squat 350 pounds as a 95 pound 13 year-old teenager, thus aptly nicknamed "Tank" by South Koreans.

1 Professional wins (13)
2 Results in major championships
3 Team appearances
4 See also
5 External links

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning Score	Margin of Victory	Runners up
1.	May 5, 2002	Compaq Classic of New Orleans	-17 (68-65-71-67=271)	4 strokes	Dudley Hart, Geoff Ogilvy
2.	Sept. 22, 2002	Tampa Bay Classic	-17 (63-68-68-68=267)	7 strokes	Glen Day
3.	Oct. 2, 2005	Chrysler Classic of Greensboro	-22 (64-69-67-66=266)	2 strokes	Shigeki Maruyama
4.	Oct. 29, 2006	Chrysler Championship	-13 (68-66-70-67=271)	4 strokes	Paul Goydos, Brett Wetterich
5.	Jun. 3, 2007	Memorial Tournament	-17 (69-70-67-65=271)	1 stroke	Ryan Moore
6.	Jul. 8, 2007	AT&T National	-9 (66-67-70-68=271)	3 strokes	Steve Stricker