Golfer Choi Kyung Joo’s Amazing and Powerful Swing

There is a saying that “The Masters didn’t start until the introduction of the Sunday Back Nine.”

That’s how immense pressure is in the final Round 4.

During the par 5 hole of the latter half of 2002 match, Ernie Elles (South Africa) and BJ Singh (Fiji) dumbstruck watchers and respectively committed a triple and quadruple bogey and lost what should have been one of theirs, “The Green Jacket”. The “King of Golf” Tiger Woods (U.S.) went on to win.

What kind of drama will unfold in the 2004 Masters?

It’s the third round at the American Georgia Augusta National GC (72 par) on the 11th of April.

Among the six finalists, the two that stand out are Phil Michaelson (U.S.) who holds the lead position (6 under par) and “Tank” Choi Kyung-joo (Superior, Taylor-Made) who has maintained a 4th place lead (shared with Michaelson) (3 under par) for four continuous days.

Will Michaelson be able to rid himself of the unglorious title of “The Best Golfer Without a Major Title” this time around? Michaelson has appeared in 46 games over 4 decades and has made it to the threshold of victory many times only to fail in the last round. In the last 3 years, he has placed 3rd.

Taking into account the average number of players who make it to the 4th round over successive Master’s matches, Michaelson’s average is quite high. It should give him comfort that all the winners of the Masters in the last 13 years were in the “League of Champions”.

However, the rise of his college rival and competitor “Psycho Grip” Chris DiMarco (U.S.) and the 3rd place (4 under par) “Master’s New Favorite” Paul Casey (Great Britain) have been extraordinary.

In the 2nd round, Choi Kyung-joo tied a record for lowest number of strokes (6 under par, 30 strokes) in all Master’s out courses. If Choi continues this fantastic putting, there will a competitive and close fight.

With fighting spirit, Choi stated, “I’ve fully analyzed the Augusta Green and gained a lot of confidence. In the final round, I will try my hardest and go for victory.”

Choi, along with “Heir Apparent” Elles, have entered the early morning final round (3:40 a.m. (Korean time)) on the 12th.

On the other hand, the 23-year old Justin Rose, “England’s Child Prodigy” who had aimed for the lead for two days was knocked out of contention after swinging 9 over par and 81 strokes in the 3rd round. On the same day, Woods hit 3 over par (75 swings), giving him 20th place with Rose (3 over par, 219 strokes) and appeared far from victory.

Young-Sik Ahn ysahn@donga.com