Na Yeon Choi - LPGA Golfer

Na Yeon Choi, South Korean born LPGA Rookie of the year this 2008, started playing golf at the age of ten. Within a year, she began winning contests, and, at 17, she was playing for the Korean National Team as an amateur. She won the ADT-Caps Invitational in Hampyung on the KLPGA tour. This win gave her instant celebrity status in Korea. Upon turning pro in late 2004, she acquired several lucrative sponsorships, and took home the trophy for KLPGA Rookie of the year. 2005 proved to be a good year for Choi, as she won the Lake Side Ladies Open on the KLPGA tour. In 2006, Choi came in first in the KB Star Tour Event, and ended up the third top money winner.

Na Yeon Choi credits her father for influencing her golf career the most, while her hobbies are shooting pool and watching volleyball. Two of Choi’s sponsors are SK Telecom and Sky 72 Golf Club. There is not much published about Choi’s personal life. Perhaps that helps contribute to her resolute attitude about her golf game. The less media distraction enables her to focus more on the drives, chips and putts.

In this month of October in Half Moon Bay, CA, Na Yeon Choi took a 36 hole 2-stroke lead over Lorena Ochoa and Paula Creamer, despite cold and windy weather in the Samsung World Championship. Nothing much ruffles her self confidence in her game, as she calmly and assertively takes on one hole at a time. Choi uses an interpreter, which could explain some of her uninterrupted concentration of play. If you don’t understand what the players and caddies around you are saying, it would be much easier to tune them out.