K. J. Choi

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

Choi 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. In January 2008, Choi won the Sony Open in Hawaii and rose to world number 7. In March 2008, Choi reached fifth place in the rankings. He has spent 40 weeks in the top-10 of the rankings.

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.

Charity

After his 7th PGA Tour victory at the 2008 Sony Open in Hawaii, Choi donated $320,000 of his earnings to the victims' families of a warehouse fire in Seoul, South Korea, which killed over forty people.