KJ Choi eager to bag his maiden major title at The Open Championship
South Korean KJ Choi is eager to end his winning drought in major golf championships, as he heads for The Open Championship, at the Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club, slated to start from July 19, 2012.
According to him, patience will be the key if he wants to succeed in joining the league of major champions. He came close to the British Open victory twice in his career but never took the top spot.
While heading to the third major event of the year, he told that he failed to maintain consistency in his game at both the occasions when he received the chance to secure a win.
In 2007, he tied for the eighth position and the 2008 Open saw him share the 16th spot, even though he had the halfway lead at Royal Birkdale.
His best finish in the major championships came in the Masters Tournament in 2004, when he took the third place on the leaderboard.
Since the inception of the major golf championships in 1860, YE Yang is the only South Korean to win a major. He won the PGA Championship in 2009.
Therefore, Choi does not want any other player to claim the honour of becoming the second South Korean to win a major event.
“Twice, I was near the winning score (in The Open). But the last day, I had a lot of trouble. This year, I will try to keep my patience and to keep my score. Nobody knows who will win,” said Choi, who is an eight-time winner on the U.S. Tour.
“Getting older, it feels different,” added Choi with a smile.
“Catching the ball on the club is different. This year has been a little slow, but still a survival. This is my fourth week in a row and I’m a bit jetlag but the energy is good. I like the golf course here,” said Choi, who has not missed The Open since 2002.
He also told that he along with his caddie, Andy Prodger, had a thorough look of the course venue and found that the bunkers are really out of bounds. Therefore, he will have to pay keen attention to accuracy if he wants to succeed in his mission.
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