KJ Choi fires 70 to win Players Championship
K.J. Choi smashed a score of 13-under par on Sunday (May 15, 2011) to force the $9.5 million Players Championship into a play-off.
The South Korean teed off from the front in the afternoon after completing the third round, which was left incomplete, due to rain. The player birdied the opening hole from ten feet and left the next three holes at par.
On the par-4 fifth, the player dropped a shot and carded the first bogey of the day, losing the only point he had earned in the front. He wrapped the front at par.
However, on his way to the back, the player hammered a fantastic tee shot that plunged two yards and left the winner hitting irons from one yard off the green. Chipping from outside the green, Choi signed for the second birdie of the day. After losing a
point on the immediate hole, Choi birdied the 13th and the 17th to force the tournament into the play-off.
The player accompanied by Toms walked towards the 18th tee to decide the play-off hole for the match and picked the paper with the name of 17th hole written on it.
For the second time in the day, the player walked to the 17th hole, which is considered to be, the most dangerous and challenging hole on TPC Sawgrass.
Choi teed off after Toms had his turn. He par-equalled the hole and surged into victory, while Toms left the course after saying, “I kind of hit it on the toe and didn't get it rolling, and when I looked up it was left. It was just a bad putt. No excuses,
no spike marks, no ball marks, no nothing. Maybe a lot of pressure. But other than that, there was no excuse”.
On the other hand, Choi did not lose his cool and told the press in a green side interview that he decided not to lose his nerves because of other players, or, the gallery, or, the applause of the crowd.
The self-assurance worked for the player and he lifted his first Players Championship trophy along with $1.71 million worth of winner’s prize-money.
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