Choi makes TOUR comeback after two-year struggle
By Craig Dolch, PGATOUR.COM Contributor
The last time K.J. Choi had a top-10 finish on the PGA TOUR, he not only was the world's top-ranked South Korean, but the only one from his homeland to have won on the PGA TOUR.
A lot has changed since Choi finished third in last year's Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club.
For one thing, fellow South Korean Y.E. Yang won twice last year -- first at The Honda Classic, then outdueling Tiger Woods in the final round to win the PGA Championship at Hazeltine -- to move into the top 30 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Choi, meantime, was headed in the opposite direction, almost falling out of the top 100 in the rankings, thanks to that lone top-10 finish on the PGA TOUR, before he salvaged his season by winning the rain-shortened Iskandar Johor Open in his homeland last October.
Not only was Choi -- a seven-time PGA TOUR winner -- not the best-known South Korean golfer in the U.S., but he wasn't even the best South Korean golfer.
That may start to change after Choi's second-place finish Sunday to Jim Furyk at the Transitions Championship at Innisbrook, a place where Choi already had won twice. The runner-up showing improved Choi's world ranking from 75th to No. 47, putting him in position to qualify for the Masters if he can remain in the top 50 in two weeks.
"All I can say is I tried my best today," Choi said after a 67 that matched Nick Watney and Stephen Ames for the day's low round. "My shots felt great. My hat is off to Jim, because he just played fantastic. All in all, this feels more than fantastic for me. It definitely exceeded my expectations."
Choi started the final round three shots behind Furyk, but opened with four birdies on the first six holes to pull even with one of his final-group playing partners. But then Furyk birdied the eighth, while Choi bogeyed the hole, to open up a two-shot lead and he never trailed.
The closest Choi came to Furyk was when the latter bogeyed the final hole. Then again, Furyk's ball came real close to Choi on the 18th hole when the leader was hitting out of the trees. Furyk's shot from the pine chips squirted right, nearly plunking an unsuspecting Choi, who was standing nearby.
"Yeah, (it) just went right in front of me," Choi said, laughing. "I thought it was a moon passing by."
It had been too many moons since Choi last contended on the PGA TOUR. That seemed odd for someone who won his seven TOUR titles in a six-year span from 2002-2008.
The 39-year-old Choi knows why he has struggled: The former weight lifter tried to change his body. Like the old saying goes: Be careful what you ask for.
Choi's said his troubles started in 2008 when he tried to gradually lose some weight with an eye on career longevity. Good idea, but Choi admitted they tried to do too much, too fast.
"I had a lot of excess fat stored in my body," Choi said. "But I think we tried to do it in such a short time that I lost more than what I needed to, and that threw my body off a little bit. I lost a lot of energy. Just compared to the reduction of the weight, the specs for my clubs, they didn't feel right. So everything was kind of thrown off-balance."
So Choi hired another trained last year to work on his flexibility, knowing he was about to leave the peak of his career. It was another good idea that produced a bad result -- he ranked 93rd on last year's money list, his worst showing since his rookie season in 2000.
"During that process, I hurt my lower back a little bit, and that kind of decreased my swing speed," he said. "My body wasn't really 100 percent the past two years.
"During the off-season, I've been managing my body better, getting into a better training routine. I think my lower back is a lot better. Because of that, my swing speed has increased and my distance has increased."
Choi's driving distance this year of 280.2 is still 6 yards shorter than where he was in 2008, but he has improved his greens in regulation from 65.5 to 72.5 percent and his driving accuracy from 61.4 to 64.8 percent.
There's not a pro golfer -- at least a savvy pro golfer -- who wouldn't give up a few yards of distance to become more accurate.
Nor is there a pro golfer who doesn't want to play at the Masters. Choi hasn't missed playing at Augusta National since 2002, with his best showing a third in 2004. Now he just has to stay inside the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking for this week's Arnold Palmer Invitational and next week's Shell Houston Open in Choi's U.S. hometown.
"When I started out this year, I didn't really think about it that much, but obviously it was in my mind," Choi said of the Masters. "I just said to myself to take it week-by-week and just try my best. To hear that this finish puts me in 47th in the world, it's actually better than what I thought I would be at this point. All I can say is I will try my best next week to maintain or better that position."
And maybe, just maybe, South Korea will have two contenders to be the latest foreign-born winners to wear a Green Jacket.
Craig Dolch is a freelance columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.
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