Choi Kyung-Ju, ‘Magic Show’ of 11 Under

‘Tank’, Choi Kyung-ju (Superior · Taylormade) was raised to the second place by two strokes.

On the third round of Mercedes Championship which was an opening match of US PGA Tour held in the Plantation Course of Kapalua, Hawaii on January 12.

Choi Kyung-ju had nine Birdies and one Eagle without Bogey, and played 11 under pars and 62 strokes.

He reduced one stroke from his record of the minimum strokes(63 strokes) of the 18th hole obtained in the first round of Tempa Bay Classic last year and the previous course record (63 strokes). In this tournament, the record of the minimum strokes championship was 26 under pars and 266 strokes of David Duval. The record of the maximum under pars championship of US PGA Tour is 28 under pars of Mark Calcavecchia.

Choi Kyung-Ju (23 under pars & 196 strokes) played the match for the prize money of USD1 million as ‘the champion group’ in the final fourth round with Els (25 under pars & 194 strokes).

In an objective evaluation, Els (3rd place in the world ranking) is more equal than him. However, a look of Choi Kyung-ju(41st place in the world ranking) is rather formidable, and so the match is unpredictable. Especially, Choi Kyung-ju keeps the peak of the shot sense as he records only one Bogey for 54 days, and already grasped the green condition perfectly.

However, Els threw the tee shot into Hazard and had the double bogey in the 17th hole (Par 4) in the third round. Then, Els failed to play the Birdie Putting in the 18th hole (Par 5). It was the first time to miss the Birdie in the hole of Par 5 for him in this match.

The analysis says that a self-confidence will be a key point of a victory in the final fourth round of psychological burden.

Besides, there may be ‘a dark horse’ which will won advantages for the match than others. It is because all players are the championship winners of last tour and the Plantation Course has the complete course setting. There were three championship winners who turned the tide in the game from 1999 Tournament to last year. Among them, two winners won the championship in the extra time.

In particular, Sergio Garcia (Spain) won the championship beating David Thomas(US) in the extra time by playing 9 under pars and 64 Strokes in the final fourth round in the last tournament.

‘Sky KBS Sports’ which is the sports channel of cable satellite will relay the final fourth round of Mercedes Championship which was an opening match of 2003 US PGA Tour from 10 a.m. on January 13. Also, the first and second round will be broadcasted at 5 a.m. on January 14 and 15.

Young-Sik Ahn ysahn@donga.com