Choi Kyoung-ju, the South Korean golfer who won the PGA Tour Sony Open this week, said he will donate about 300 million won ($320,000) of his prize money to the bereaved families of the victims of a deadly warehouse fire last week in his country.
"I hope that the deceased rest in peace, and that their families overcome this suffering," Choi said in a statement after his three-shot victory over South African Rory Sabbatini for his his seventh career U.S. PGA title on Monday.
Forty people were killed in the blaze in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, that ripped through a two-story warehouse last Monday. Most of the victims were daily wage earners, many of them migrant workers from China.
Police believe the fire was aggravated by faulty safety facilities in the building, resulting in heavy casualties. Among the 40 dead in the conflagration, 19 have yet to be identified, police said.
Choi, 38, received $954,000 for his victory at the first full-field PGA event of the year. He finished with a four-round total of 14-under 266 at Waialea Country Club in Honolulu.
Choi has won at least one tournament every year since 2005, becoming one of only four golfers, including Tiger Woods of the U.S., to do so. He ranks seventh in the world golf rankings, according to the Official World Golf Ranking Web site.