Father and Son Prepare for KPGA Tour

Last year, Choi Gwang-soo (47, Dong-A Pharmaceutical) began training at a fitness center for the first time since his professional golf debut in 1988. He worked on building his lower body four hours a day, together with intensive weight training. He also climbed Mt. Cheonggye three to four times a week to improve his physical strength. The reason that Choi, who has a total of 15 wins in national competitions and has been the top money winner four times in his career, is training harder than ever as he closes in on his fifties is because he will be playing together with his eldest son, Choi Hyung-kyu (20, Woori Golf), this season on the Korea Professional Golf Association (KPGA) Tour.

Choi Hyung-kyu, who is following in his father’s footsteps, passed the KPGA Tour’s qualifying school at the end of last year, and will be a seeded player this season. They are the first father and son in the history of Korean professional golf to play side-by-side on the tour, and they are excitedly awaiting the opening of the season. The opening stage will be at the Tomato Bank Open, which will be held at the Zephyros Golf Club in Jeju on April 26.

On April 24, Choi Gwang-soo played a practice round with his son. He said, “It’s a whole new experience. I’m more worried about whether my young son will be able to pull through well.” He added, “He lacks experience, so he will have to learn to control and overcome situations when the game does not go smoothly. This is just the beginning, and I think with time, he will do well.”

Unlike his father who trained at home, Choi Hyung-kyu prepared for the season in Irvine, California, training there for three months while focusing on his short game. Choi, who has played four practice rounds with his father, said, “I am very happy and proud to be able to play with my dad.” For now, his goal in his first competition is to make the preliminary cut, and he is determined to keep his tour card with steady scores. Choi, who has a strong build of 182cm and 78kg, hit drives that averaged 15 yards farther than his father in the practice round.

In the U.S. Professional Golf Association (PGA) Tour, the most well known cases of fathers and sons playing together are Jack Nicklaus (son: Gary Nicklaus), who visited Korea on April 23, and Craig Stadler (son: Kevin Stadler).

This competition, which will be the opening match for this season’s KPGA Tour, with a record-high purse of 7.9 billion won at stake, will be the debut stage in professional golf for Kim Kyung-tae, the winner of two gold medals in golf at the Doha Asia Games in Qatar last December, and the promising Jeju-born Kang Seong-hoon (Shinhan Bank).

kjs0123@donga.com