By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
After delivering a stinker on world golf's biggest stage, South Korean star Choi Kyoung-ju admitted that he allowed the pressure to get him at the Masters tournament.
With the wounds still fresh from falling flat at Augusta, Ga., the 38-year-old believes it would be important for him to start having fun on the greens again. And he hopes the SK Telecom Open, which begins Thursday at the Sky72 Golf Club near the Incheon International Airport, could be the right tournament to break loose.
``I will play to have fun out there," Choi said at a news conference Tuesday at the airport, where he joined two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen, who is the other high-profile player at the tournament.
``I didn't play as well as I hoped at the Masters, but I think that the experience makes me better prepared for the SK Telecom Open,'' he said. ``I am expecting a good result."
Choi, the sport's highest ranked Asian at sixth, won the SK tournament in 2003 and 2005, but now must adjust to a new venue in Sky72, a course designed by Jack Nicklaus and notorious for its strong sea winds and fast greens.
Choi and Goosen are clearly the biggest draws, but an upstart generation of young South Korean golfers are also looking to make a name for themselves by frying the big fish.
Last year's champion Bae Sang-moon has showed superb form in recent months, opening the season with a win at the KEB Invitational. Kim Kyung-tae, regarded as the best Korean talent since Choi himself, is coming off a fourth-place finish at the Emerson Pacific Open, and veterans Kang Kyung-nam and Kim Hyung-sung are some other names to look out for.
Choi had entered the Masters with hopes of contending for the title but instead delivered one of his worst performances of the year. He failed to break par in any of the four rounds and finished at 41st place with a total score of 10-over 298, falling 18 shots behind winner Trevor Immelman.
``I was thinking too much on every shot," Choi said about his struggles at the Masters.
``It would have been better for me to loosen up, but I have a fondness for the course at Augusta, and I think that made me haste my shots. My putting was bad.
``The result was not what I had hoped for, but I did like some shots I made during the event. I think the experience will help me play better in other events."