53-Year-Old Choi Kyung-Joo Ranks High on the First Day of the PGA Sony Open
‘Eldest hyung’ Choi Kyung-joo still showed off his potential.
On the morning of the 13th (Korean time), Choi Kyung-joo shot a 4 under par 66 in the first round of the PGA Tour Sony Open (total prize money: 7.9 million dollars) held at the Waialei Country Club (par 70) in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. Choi Kyung-ju, who had won the tournament in 2008, tied 5 birdies and 1 bogey to chase the morning group leaders Jordan Spieth and Chris Kirk (USA, 6 under par 64 strokes) by 2 strokes.
Choi Gyeong-ju, who is over 50 years old and is playing on the PGA Champions Tour, showed off his rust-free skills in competition with his juniors. His average driving distance was 287.7 yards, not much different from the PGA Tour average of 296.3 yards this season, and his driver accuracy was also 78.57%. The green hit rate was also high at 77.78%.
Choi Kyung-ju, who made two birdies in the first half, lost a stroke on the 10th hole (par 4) starting in the second half with his tee shot in the rough right of the fairway and his second shot also in the bunker in front of the green. However, he made up for it with a birdie on the 12th hole, and added birdies on the 16th hole (par 4 above) and the 18th hole (par 5) to finish the first day with a high ranking. 메이저사이트
Kim Si-woo, who participated in the first tournament in 2023 after getting married in December of last year, also tied 5 birdies and 2 bogeys and started with a 3 under par 67 strokes. Of the seven Korean players who competed this week, Kim Joo-hyung, Lim Seong-jae, Lee Kyung-hun, Ahn Byung-hoon and Kim Seong-hyun will play in the afternoon group.