 First-time Sun City visitor KJ Choi is a stocky, 5'8, 84kg South Korean golfer aptly
known as ‘The Tank’ for the way he relentlessly ploughs through golf courses.
Choi, or Choi Kyoung-ju as he is known in Korea, is the first male golfer from those
far eastern islands to taste consistent success at the highest level of the game, the PGA
Tour.
While the South Korean invasion of the LPGA Tour has been underway for quite some time,
Choi first arrived in the United States in 1999 and has successfully integrated himself
into the American way of life, living in Houston, Texas, with his wife and three children.
He is a national hero back home for his successful journey from rural Wando Island to the
golfing elite, overcoming enormous cultural barriers along the way.
The Choi family have made their home in America and speak three languages, Korean,
English and Spanish.
Choi’s parents were vegetable farmers and occasional fishermen and his first
sporting exploits were in the realm of power-lifting, able to squat 160kg as a 43kg
13-year-old.
But when Choi was 15, a physical education teacher told him he would be a golfer. He
began by hitting balls into a net behind the local cemetery and two of his father's
friends would drive him to Kwangju CC three hours away to play. They would leave in the
middle of the night so Choi could be there at sunrise. He would play until it was dark and
once played 69 holes in a day.
His dreams were interrupted by two years of national service starting in 1991, but he
managed to arrange that he was on guard duty at night so he could practise during the day.
In 1995 he won his first professional title, the Korean Tour's Fantom Open and, when he
first played in the United States in 1997 in the World Cup in South Carolina, his gaze was
almost immediately fixed on a spot on the PGA Tour.
The 38-year-old Choi, a seven-time winner on golf's premier tour and a regular in the
top 10 of the world golf rankings in the last two years, is now helping to ease the way
for other Koreans to follow in his shoes. He plays regularly back home – he won
the SK Telecom Open this year – has started a foundation in Korea and sponsors
talented youngsters to travel to work with top coaches.
No Asian male has ever won a major championship and Choi is in third place on their
list of top-10 finishes with four, behind Japan's Tommy Nakajima (6) and Isao Aoki (5). So
winning a major is clearly the next big step for one of the most popular golfers on tour.
He came closest in the 2004 Masters when he finished in third place behind Phil
Mickelson and Ernie Els, shooting a 69 in the final round.
Another busy year on tour in 2008 has seen Choi play 20 regular-season tournaments,
making 15 cuts and finishing in the top 10 four times. He began the year with a bang,
winning the Sony Open in Hawaii as he saw off a top-class field by three strokes.
Although he hasn't had any other US wins in 2008, an eighth-place finish in the FedEx
Cup standings heading into the Tour Championship and earnings of $2 473 442 represent a
decent return.
It has been 22 years since an Oriental golfer - Taiwan's TC Chen - played at Sun City
and, with the Asian Tour much more of a force these days, there will be a major air of
expectation when Choi tees it up for the first time at the Gary Player Country Club. | 
