Choi feels he's closer to major title

Published on Monday 21 July 2008 00:37

ALTHOUGH bitterly disappointed with his Open finish yesterday, South Korea's KJ Choi felt he gained significant ground in his lifelong bid to become a major champion.

"What I gained from this week is I'm closer towards my goal of winning a major," Choi told reporters. "It was a very good experience for me and it's not very far away.

"I feel my game (on links courses] has improved and I look forward to the US PGA Championship (next month]."

The world No 11 began the final round at a wind-buffeted Royal Birkdale two strokes off the pace but tumbled back into a tie for 16th after shooting a nine-over-par 79.

He dropped six shots in the first eight holes and signed off with an ugly quadruple-bogey 8 at the last, where he hit his tee shot out-of-bounds, for a 13-over tally of 293.

"I didn't have any feel with my putting this weekend," said Choi, who led by a stroke after the second round before ending it 10 behind the eventual champion Padraig Harrington.

"In the windy conditions I lost my feel. My putting stroke was different than the first two rounds."

Choi, the son of a rice farmer, was bidding to become the first Asian male to win a major but his title challenge slipped away on the front nine of the final round.

He bogeyed the par-four first, where he missed a three-foot putt, before dropping five shots in a row from the short fourth.

"I just couldn't make the putts," Choi added after totalling 36 on the last day.

The former weightlifter cemented his place among the game's elite by winning his seventh US PGA Tour title at the Sony Open in January and has been knocking on the door at the majors for four years.

Choi has recorded four top-10 finishes in the majors since the end of 2003.

His closest effort was third place at the 2004 US Masters where he ended three shots behind the triumphant Phil Mickelson.