At the Korea Professional Golf (KPGA) Korean Tour SK Telecom Open, which ended on the 21st, there was someone who received the spotlight as much as Baek Seok-hyun (33), who lifted the championship cup. “Tank” Choi Kyung-ju (53, photo).
Competing with young golfers in their 20s and 30s who are full of energy, they achieved a good result with a new record of passing the most cuts (20) in this tournament and a tie for 19th place. Even if you are the first Korean golfer to enter the US Professional Golf (PGA) Tour and achieve 8 wins, it is not easy to achieve this level of performance at the age of well over 50.
In the first and second rounds, even the ‘bad luck’ of being in a group with the long hitters of the Korean Tour overlapped. Kim Bio (33), who played the round together, ranks first in the distance ranking of the Korean Tour, and Jeong Chan-min (24) is a golfer who earned the nickname ‘Korea’s Yon Ram’ by hitting a long hit of over 350 yards at the GS Caltex Maekyung Open last month.
He told him the story of 2004 when he asked him, “Aren’t you psychologically intimidated by being in a group with young long hitters?” He said, “I once played in the same group as Dustin Johnson and Gary Woodland. These are the guys who can drive more than 100 yards more than I do. But the first place that day was me. When they hit their second shot with the sand wedge, I had to hold the 5-iron. then what about Everyone will send the ball around the green anyway, and the winner is in the short game. You don’t have to be intimidated by being short. You just need to sharpen and polish your own weapon.”
Choi Kyung-ju showed the essence of such a play in the 1st hole (par 4) of the 1st round of this tournament. On the 385-yard dog leg hole that curves to the right, Bio Kim and Chan-Min Jeong grabbed the wood and sent 287 yards and 274 yards, respectively. On the other hand, Choi Kyung-ju managed only 253 yards even after holding the driver. It also fell into a bunker. But it was a choice, not a miss shot. Because it was the shortest distance to the hall. Moreover, Choi Kyung-ju is so good at bunker shots that he is called the ‘god of bunkers’ on the PGA Tour. In the end, he put his second shot 2m next to the pin and got a birdie. All of the “long hit juniors” stopped at par.토토사이트
The average drive distance of Kyung-Joo Choi in this tournament was 261 yards (140th place). Down 20 to 30 yards from his prime. His shortened driving distance made up for in sophistication. The fairway landing rate of 76.79% (18th place) and green hit rate of 76.39% (11th place) tell the story.
When asked how he maintains his skills even when he gets older, he said, “Secret indie… He told me about his physical training. Choi Kyung-joo said, “I do 100 squats and 100 push-ups every day, and I always do stretching for 30 minutes.” He added, “You can use a cart on the PGA Champions Tour, where you are currently, but if you do that, your pelvis will become stiff and eventually you will not be able to walk 18 holes.”
Kyung-ju Choi returns to the United States and challenges to win the Champions Tour PGA Championship, Memorial Tournament, Wisconsin Tournament, and Players Senior Tournament. The stage he is most eager for is the Players Senior Championship. This is because the winner can go to the ‘fifth major’ Players Championship the following year. The legend of Choi Kyung-ju is currently in progress.