“The Tank” Goes for Third Season Win

K.J. “the Tank” Choi (Choi Kyung-ju, 37) is going after his third win of the season and the top three spot in the money rankings.

The challenge will come on August 2 at the PGA World Bridgestone Invitational World Golf Championship held at the Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio.

K.J. Choi is at the top of his game this season. In June, he was the winner at the Memorial Tournament, created by golf legend Jack Nicklaus. Just five weeks later, in July, Choi received a trophy from Tiger Woods who hosted the AT&T National. Both competitions are on par with the majors, considering their winning purse and fields of competing players.

The Bridgestone Invitational is one of the annual World Golf Championships for male pro golfers. The purse is $8 million and $1.35 million for the winner – one of the largest on the PGA Tour.

Yesterday, Choi was ranked twelfth in the world with a money rank of fifth place ($3.43 million). Choi is only $990,000 short of second place, currently held by Vijay Singh (Fiji). With his next win, Choi could easily move into second place.

Until last year, the Bridgestone International was the ultimate game for Tiger Woods. Since his first entry in 1999, Woods has won five of the eight competitions and finished in the top four in the other rounds. If he wins this year, it will be his third consecutive win.

Woods may be the “Prince of Golf,” but all through this season, Choi has topped his game. Woods was a competitor in both the tournaments that Choi won. Woods and Choi were also in the British Open (one of the four major championships) together, where Choi broke the record for Korean golfers by finishing in eighth place and sweeping by Woods, who ranked twelfth.

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