[sample translations]k j choi, the korean tank eng by LTI Korea Library

Sample Translations

K.J. Choi The Korean Tank E ng l i s h

Book Information

The Korean Tank (코리안탱크) Vision and Leadership Publishing corp. / 2012 / 27 p. / ISBN 9788990984982 0332003320 For further information, please visit: http://library.klti.or.kr/node/772 This sample translation was produced with support from LTI Korea. Please contact the LTI Korea Library for further information. library@klti.or.kr

The Korean Tank Written by K.J. Choi

“Who knows what may happen tomorrow? There’s no way of knowing until you live it. That’s life.”

Table of Contents

Prologue 18

Part 1: I Am K.J. Choi

Section 01 A game you lose the more you carry 23 Alone in the locker room

Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s golf

April: a tough month Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s golf Section 02 Nothing is free in life

No reason for regrets; you get what you put in

31 Nip complicated thoughts in the bud Golf knows the blood, sweat and tears I shed Being thankful before a spoiled meal Section 03 The question I ask myself: who are you? 39 I am not Tiger Woods

Knowing yourself is strength

The questions that are always thrown at me Becoming stronger and wiser I am K.J. Choi One-Point Lesson

Set up / Be faithful to the basics

Part 2: I Am Not an Island Section 04 My life’s first shot A white parabola lit a fire in my heart 51 Be a man, not a scrub An emperor’s table and an empty wallet I’ve made up my mind; I will succeed at sports What is golf? My life’s first shot Section 05 From Wando to Seoul

Even a flower that hasn’t bloomed can sell

61 Master of beginners and kids wet behind the ears Myeong-sa-sip-ri: nature’s training program My first round: fifty and seventeen Here comes the golf monster A goal with my name on it Time to be sold at a high price in Seoul Section 06 Alone in Seoul I’m not lonely. I’m not poor. Because I have a dream 81 My father’s shoulder shook Mr. Director will take care of it Leave K.J. alone when he’s practicing The 63 Building is expensive You can get something just by pushing around a mop What lies beyond the horizon? Check out the grass in America! One-Point Lesson

Grip / Seize the opportunity

Part 3: I Am a Professional Section 07 Out to the brave new world! Big fish lurk in uncharted waters 105 Let’s go catch a tiger Failure shapes me A door opens in an unexpected place It’s all right, I don’t mind the F-class

Entering at last into the tiger’s den Section 08 What planet is this?

World, here I come!

121 I’m a PGA pro golfer Finding the way in a battle zone The lonely fight How could this macho man cry? Into the tiger’s den again Section 09 A pro produces results Bone-crushing strength Grandmas like K.J. Choi’s Bois? K.J.’s kids? Forgetting the sorrow of living away from home I’m a pro golfer made in Wando, South Korea Hearty support that isn’t boastful The person who showed me what it means to be loved Section 10 A pro is never alone Skills are developed on the training ground of relationships 157 Caddie: your wife on the field Manager: a player’s shadow Coach: golf’s family doctor Sponsor: support and thanks Fellow players: both friend and foe

139

PGA Tour: made for the player Section 11 A pro takes responsibility for himself How you manage yourself determines your success 177 There is strength in the simple everyday The “that’s good enough” trap You stay alive by training You must be mentally tough to win An athlete’s diet is also strategy A top ranker does not smoke One-Point Lesson

Swing / A posture in life that’s flexible yet tough

Part 4: I Am a Korean Tank Section 12 A tank moves forward The Korean flag makes me bold 201 The Republic of Korea: K.J.’s sponsor? A Korean eagle soars above the Masters’ Amen Corner The Jack Nicklaus hands me the winner’s trophy Cutting the ribbon at Tiger Woods’ inaugural tournament Section 13 I don’t speak of it, though it hurts 217

The pain in my body and heart

It seems my body has broken down The untold story of the clubs My first win in a major slips away Section 14 Getting up again If you know the source of your strength you can get up again 229 When I fall there is a hand that picks me up Getting up again at the Players Championship Finding the source of the strength that makes me get up again One-Point Lesson

Putting / Moving forward toward the goal

Part 5: I Am a Father Section 15 A father learns from a father A father speaks through his life 245 Nothing is impossible if it’s a matter of life and death Money: it wasn’t mine to begin with What does it mean to love something until the very end? You can’t just dress up the outside without taking care of the inside Section 16 A father has a philosophy 261

It may be slow-going, but the good and proper way never fails

Have you ever seen the roots of weeds? One step even if you’re happy, one step even if you’re sad You must empty your glass to pour in a new drink These three beliefs become my ultimate support Section 17 A father is always working I go to work for a different reason each day What I’ve lost, what I’ve gained Why aren’t you smiling? Think on your own and decide by yourself Another place I want to win Golf is what I know I am always working One-Point Lesson

Bunker Shot / There is peace when you overcome fear

273

Prologue Hope does not lose hope Hello, I am K.J. Choi, the Korean Tank. Ever since 2006 when Reverend Ha Yong Jo of Onnuri Community Church proposed that I write my own book, I began gathering my writing material. I thought long and hard not only about what to include in the book, but also when it should be published. Many people agreed that the perfect timing would be after a major championship win when I would return home in triumph. However I’ve had a tough time this past year, but from what I’ve seen and heard on the news about what’s happening in Korea, I learned that many people have had a much tougher time. Because of the global economic downturn, there has been an increase in young adult unemployment, and I’ve sensed the pressures and difficulties of various disasters, incidents, and accidents that occur every day. Instead of boasting of my achievements and expecting people to be happy for me, it was my desire to look back on the journey that we’ve run with all our might, and to encourage and cheer ourselves on for enduring those difficult times. I have found comfort by watching people gain hope again and I am hoping that they will be able to enter a new period of their lives as they overcome these present troubles. Hard times come to everyone, but it’s not only special people who can overcome hardships. We all can. We are all very special. I have devoted myself to the writing of each page, hoping that readers will be able to sense my love for them, hoping that the lessons I’ve learned might be of use to young people. I am donating all the royalties from this book to the K.J. Choi Foundation to be used to fund the Build a Dream Nest* program, and I trust that my intentions will be more clearly realized through this foundation. Thank you for the opportunity to share my story, for this process has helped me to resharpen my resolve to work harder than ever. It is my deepest wish that this book will give hope and comfort to those who need it. Thank you for reading and supporting this book and our foundation’s Build a Dream Nest program, so that our children will never lose hope despite the present difficulties, and will continue to run toward their dreams. Thank you. K.J. Choi, the Korean Tank

Build a Dream Nest: An educational care center where youth from difficult family or school environments can make their dreams a reality

Part 1: I Am K.J. Choi

(A golferâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s goal cannot be the score; it must only be the hole.)

Section 01 A game you lose the more you carry That’s golf

/Alone in the locker room April 6, 2012. “Hey, K.J.! See you next year!” The players who were still in the game said goodbye to me as they moved busily, preparing for the next day. “Thanks, good luck!” I stopped what I’d been doing to wave at them. I’d been taking my belongings out of my locker and stuffing them any old way into my bag. As always, there was a smile on my face. Although I looked composed on the outside, it seemed a thousand, no, five thousand flames were burning inside. Embarrassment and pent-up frustration burned inside my chest. After day two, I had missed the cut for the Masters Tournament. Out of the four major championships—the Masters Tournament, U.S. Open Championship, The Open Championship, and PGA Championship—the Masters was my favorite. It was the one I wanted to win. I had believed that if I were going to win a major championship, it would be this one, this year. In 2010, I’d climbed to fourth place in the world rankings and in 2011, I’d reached 8th place. I’d also earned top-10 finishes for the past two years and to top it off, in 2011 I had won the Players Championship. If I kept going at this rate, it seemed that I could come in first in the world rankings. Plus it had been 10 years since I first participated in the Masters, so there was a part of me that wanted to play better than ever. That’s why I practiced even more than usual. But to miss the cut while forty thousand people watched… My face burned even while packing up my things alone in the locker room. All I wanted to do was dig a hole and crawl into it. “I’m never ever going to be in this position again.” I couldn’t help clenching the locker door.

/April: a tough month Springtime at the Augusta National Golf Club* is very beautiful. Azaleas and magnolias are in full bloom and the green is so smooth like glass that it seems a mere tap will send the ball sliding right across it. In April when the Masters begin, they say that Augusta becomes the center of the golf world. This tournament is the reason that a green jacket causes one to immediately think of a golf championship winner. The Masters is a by-invitation-only event, and every year according to its own criteria, the Augusta National Golf Club invites around 90 players, which is the smallest field of the majors. In other words, the Masters is arguably the most venerated stage in golf, where the world’s best professional golfers come together. I came to the United States in 2000 and it was in 2003 that I was able to step onto this ultimate stage. Back then, my heart swelled with pride just at the fact that I was able to set foot on Augusta National Golf Club. I took my first step onto these hallowed grounds while reeling inside, overcome by emotion that I had made it this far. I was able to participate in the Masters every year after that without missing a single year, for which I was extremely thankful. Whenever I walk down the famous Magnolia Lane leading to the clubhouse, I feel both pride and honor as a participant, as well as nervousness that makes my hair stand on end. At the same time, there is a sense of peace and warm welcome, as if coming home. It is a difficult emotion to describe. With each passing year, I stepped more confidently into the club and I grew less selfconscious. Without reserve, I would greet and embrace the other players, as well as the club staff and volunteers, and unlike before where I stood by simply waiting for a spot to open up during practice, I would have the audacity to push my way in and say, “Come on, step aside and let me practice,” laughing good naturedly. The Masters was special not only to me, but also to my family. It was because of the Par 3 Contest that is played on the day before the first round of the tournament. On this day, players can invite whomever they want to be their caddies. There isn’t even a limit to how many people they can invite. Because many players take their children, wives or girlfriends as caddies, it is a chance to engage in relaxed and light-hearted competition. I especially love this day where I can walk on the course with my children. In my first year, my eldest Hojun had been my caddie, but the white caddie uniform *

Augusta National Golf Club: a famous 18-hole private golf club located in the city of Augusta, Georgia, USA.

Arguably the world’s best golf course, it was founded by the legendary amateur golfer Bobby Jones. It hosts the Masters Tournament every year in the first full week of April, only after it closes its doors for five months of rigorous preparation. The Masters is the first of the four major championships to be played each year.

I’d borrowed from the club was much too big for the seven-year-old; it practically swallowed him up. But he wasn’t bothered at all by it and only smiled from ear to ear, as if he were happy enough to be playing golf with his dad. For ten years after that, Sinyeong, my second child, and Kangjun, my youngest, grew up and also joined me on the course as caddies, and there were times that all three did the job. On this day, photographers would take more shots of my children than me. I can’t help but smile when I think about the times I spent with my children in Augusta. Perhaps that’s the reason why around this time every year, I head toward Augusta with a sense of great anticipation, as though I am going to visit a close relative. This year would make it the 10th year that I’ve participated in the Masters, and I, K.J. Choi, had wanted to show my family and friends just how far I had come. So, I had trained and prepared even more than usual. I had called my longtime caddie Andy Prodger out of retirement and I had trained intensely for every possible scenario. But once the tournament began, nothing unfolded the way I had expected. When I hit five over par on the first day, I believed that it was still possible to make a recovery, but I played badly the second day as well. It was important that I settle my mind and focus, but I felt anxious and could think only about making up the loss. In the end, I finished at 9-over par with a score of 153, missing the 5-over par cut line. My neck was stiff and my mouth tasted stale. Even though I swigged back some water, a bitter taste remained in my mouth. I racked my brain on the airplane ride back home to Dallas. What had gone wrong? I had made every kind of preparation … What had I overlooked? What had I lacked?

/That’s golf Hojun, who had missed school to accompany me to the Masters, said that he was in fact glad that he got to spend more time with me. He is my eldest—a thoughtful, considerate boy. “Dad, let’s go play golf together.” “Sorry, but can we do something else instead?” Whenever I’m stressed, the way I relieve stress is by playing golf. Whenever I’m angry, the way I blow off steam is by swinging a golf club. But this time, I had no desire to play. All I could think about was locating the cause of my failure. The more I thought about it, the more it became a problem. I was obsessed! I may have described it as passion, hard work and will power, but to be honest, my mind was full of greed. I had tried my best and given it my all, but in the end, that too was simply an obsession to fill my greed. I’d always said that one must empty the mind of all kinds of thoughts, and that I myself do this, but the truth was that I wasn’t taking my own advice. I was bewildered now, because things didn’t turn out the way I had planned, and because of that, I was becoming stressed. I had basically put a heavy yoke on my shoulders that was hard to bear. What kind of sport is golf? Isn’t it a sport you win by emptying your mind and body? You can’t win by contriving or striving. You need to relax and clear your mind, and your arms need to become one with the club so that you can have a natural, balanced swing. Only then will you be able to hit a great shot and make a birdie* and an eagle**. A golfer’s goal cannot be the score; it must only be the hole. You also have to enjoy the process to have good results. That’s golf. I thought back to 2004 when I had finished third place on the leader board in my second year of participating in the Masters. Back then, I had been thankful for the mere fact that I was able to play at Augusta National Golf Club, and focused only on the hole. I didn’t make all kinds of calculations to shoot a better score, and I didn’t even think about how hard I had trained and prepared. I didn’t even think about the spectators. I only thought about golf. I finally understood what my problem was. It wasn’t that I lacked something; I had too much. I lost because there was too much inside; I was carrying too many things. I had not laid down my greed or my obsession. I had not been an honest golfer. *

Birdie: a score of one stroke under par on a hole

Eagle: a score of two strokes under par on a hole

(“It’s okay, Dad. You’ll play well next time.”)

Nothing is free in life No reason for regrets; you get what you put in

/Nip complicated thoughts in the bud I have countless thoughts inside my head. But I hate with a passion anything that’s complicated. I’m the same way with golf. Whenever I miss a cut, I rack my brain, analyzing my game and trying to find the cause of what went wrong, but once I figure it out, I brush it off easily. Since I’m only human though, negative thoughts don’t vanish instantly. Thoughts like “I should have changed my clubs” or “I should have risked hitting the ball into the water hazard and made a fade shot instead,” come at me, but I nip them in the bud and focus on the next game. However when I missed the cut for the Masters, a tournament that I had been eagerly anticipating and preparing for, I nipped the negative thoughts in the bud. Yet they kept sprouting and growing back. If it weren’t for my children, it probably would have taken me longer to get back on track again. My children, who know that you can’t win every tournament, are a lot more positive than I am. “It’s okay, Dad. You’ll play well next time.” “Dad, let’s play a board game together!” My youngest Kangjun patted me on the shoulder and my second child Sinyoung suggested that we play a board game. “Should we?” “We don’t have any board games at home. Can we go buy one? Come on, Daddy!” urged Kangjun. I loaded the children into the car and we went to a nearby store to buy a game. They laughed boisterously and joked around on the car ride there and back. While my wife made dinner, my children and I sat on the living room floor and played a game called HedBanz. It was a guessing game where each person wears a band with a card around one’s head and tries to guess the card by asking questions. “Okay, it’s Dad’s turn now. Am I an animal?” “No!” “Is it something you can eat?” “How can you eat that? Gross!” It turned out to be a lot more fun than I thought. I used my hands and even feet to gesture, and ended up falling backwards, laughing hysterically. We were having so much fun that my wife stepped out of the kitchen in the middle of making dinner to see what was going

on and took a picture. Later on, my wife showed me the picture that she had uploaded onto her Facebook page. Below the picture was the caption she had written: “KJ, what are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be at the Masters?” “What am I doing? Playing with the kids!” I laughed again. That’s right, on the final day of the Masters, I was not in Augusta, but in Dallas, playing a board game with my children. I quelled all my complicated thoughts with laughter. Is there a better cure than laughter? Because of my family, I gained the strength to prepare for the next day. /Golf knows the blood, sweat and tears I shed I don’t chase luck. Luck doesn’t chase me either. Perhaps that’s the reason why I don’t tend to get lucky from the get-go. For me, things have rarely happened right off the bat or fallen into place in one go. I’ve never even won anything, big or small, when there were free giveaways. When I was in elementary school, there was a brief period when I was on the soccer team, but even though I worked hard, I couldn’t become a key player. Instead I became the water boy. When I was on the weightlifting team in middle school, I suffered the humiliation of performing worse than my younger teammates. Forget about luck; it was upsetting that I couldn’t even get back all the hard work that I had put in. But golf calculated to the very last cent all the blood, sweat, and tears that I have shed. It showed me the joy of getting back what you put in. I mean, take this country bumpkin from Wando. When I practiced until the grip on the golf club turned gummy and sticky, I became the highest prize money winning professional golfer in Korea. After that, I was even able to win a Japanese tournament. When I was doing pretty well for myself as a professional golfer in Korea, I qualified for membership on the PGA Tour. The reason I was willing to become an obscure player and toss myself into a foreign land where I did not know the language was because I had learned that golf gives back every drop of blood, sweat and tears that I shed. I didn’t give up even though I hit a wall, and I didn’t collapse even though I slipped and fell. It’s because I knew that I would eventually gain something in the end if I didn’t give up, and that I would go all the way to the end if I continued to get up again. I chase what blood, sweat, and tears can give you, not luck. If you are after something great or if you are after something big, it has to cost you. When the club strikes the ball, the ball seems to unfurl like a stretch of rope, but in reality it isn’t like that at all. It is actually spinning as it flies through the air. If you want to play well, you need to hit the ball, taking into account that the ball will curve according to the way it spins.

The ball never moves in a straight line. That’s the truth behind the ball. So there is no need to call it a failure when the ball goes in an unintended direction. If you use your mistake as an opportunity to determine what went wrong, you can in fact gain something. In the end, the desire for success comes from ridiculous mistakes and an uncontrollable ball. I helped my parents with farming and fishing from when I was young. What I learned from that period was that nothing in life is over at once. Whether you plant beans or potatoes, whether you farm laver or go fishing, if you want to harvest something, you must make the necessary preparations, work hard, and wait. Things can even go wrong while you wait. But farmers or fishermen do not give up. They fix the problem, start anew and wait once more. In the end, there is surely something to gain. Therefore giving up halfway is foolish. If you don’t give up, an opportunity will surely come. You will succeed only if you win the battle against yourself, only if you have determination. It’s with that kind of thinking that I have come this far. Having said that, it doesn’t mean that I live my life so seriously, with a burning resolve all the time. What actually strengthens and hardens my resolve are positive thinking and laughter. Perhaps my positive nature is the reason that I’ve been able to withstand negative blows and setbacks. Even when I was young, whenever I fell and hurt my knees, I would brush the dirt off my knees and get up with a laugh, instead of sinking to the ground and bawling. Because I would be able to run again once the wound heals… I have never doubted the fact that I can try again. Whenever I fall, the first thing I think about is getting up and running again. Even if I see another obstacle before me. That’s just the way I am. Even if I trip and get hurt today, it’s okay! I can wait until the wound heals and run again.

/Being thankful before a spoiled meal I never use the phrase “being in a slump.” Others may tag me as being in a slump, but I never do. No athlete willingly puts himself in a slump. The problem lies in accepting what others say about you, that you are indeed in a slump, without even stopping to question it, because you mistake it for sympathy. In truth, it is a “spoiled meal” that others fix and set before you. Then you get sucked into thinking, “Yes, that’s right, I am just in a slump right now. There’s nothing I can do,” and that’s when things start to break down. How can one always be the best? It is impossible to stay forever at the pinnacle of success, because life isn’t a point, but a series of points. Life is a process. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. For a long-distance drive, you need to stop at a gas station, and for a long-distance flight, you need to make a stopover. You must refuel and get a maintenance check every so often to travel a long distance. Also, when you lay down cement, you need time for it to set. If you step on it without having waited for it to dry, it will simply cave in. If you want to walk on firm and smooth ground, you must wait until everything dries. There are times my mind and body are utterly exhausted. Sometimes I wonder if I am able to get up again. But I promise myself that I will get up again, and I work hard to keep that promise. If pain comes my way, I take it as medicine. Medicine is bound to show its effects sooner or later. If I just compose myself and wait, I will surely bear fruit. That is what I believe. So when others said that I was in a slump, I didn’t stop training or preparing. Even when they said I was crazy, I corrected my swing and tried different golf clubs. Even when they criticized and said I was too hasty or reckless, I kept silent and kept moving. I fixed my shortcomings and thanks to that, I was even able to increase my driving distance and ended up getting better. I don’t go through slumps. My playing might not be great sometimes, but I don’t stay in a depressed state. I practice as always and with anticipation I simply wait for the next opportunity to come my way. My job is to work hard and to endlessly evolve. The spoiled meal must be taken away and a new meal must be set. While the new rice cooks, I take out the bowls, cutlery, and side dishes and wait. Just because the rice has finished boiling, you can’t just spoon it up and eat it right away. No matter what those around you say—“Oh, I think it’s done” or “There’s too much water, it’s practically turned to porridge”—you have to wait patiently and let the rice stand for a short while. I’m thankful that I have things to do while I wait for the new meal to be set. To others, I may appear disorganized or like I’m in a bind, but I am preparing as diligently as ever while waiting. And when the new meal is finally set, I eat with a thankful heart and begin anew. Thanks to the 2012 Masters, I was able to empty my mind and get rid of my greed—

keys to regaining my original focus in golf. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a relief that the Masters happens every year. How thankful I am for that! All I have to do now is begin again.

(In every tournament, the opportunity to win comes equally to both Tiger Woods and me.)

Section 03 The question I ask myself: who are you? Knowing yourself is strength

22 /I am not Tiger Woods When I look at my fellow PGA Tour players, there are many things to be envious about. First of all, they are taller than me and have great physiques. In other words, they were born with physical strength. On top of that, most of them played on real grass with toy golf clubs from the time that they could walk, so their instinctive feel for the green is on a whole different level from mine. But of all those things, I am most envious about their height. While growing up, I never really thought that I was short. Because I was stocky, when I was with my friends, I tended to look bigger if anything, not smaller. But when I came to the United States and began to play alongside the world’s best golfers who were as tall as beanstalks, I couldn’t help but feel small. When I first joined the PGA Tour, that difference in height felt very big to me. When I would watch the spectacular shots of the nearly 2-meter-tall Tiger Woods, as well as Ernie Els and Vijay Singh, I believed that all that strength came from their great height. Because I am shorter, I am at a greater disadvantage when hitting a ball that has gone in the rough. On top of that, I consume more energy when walking than the other players, because I need to take an extra step while they merely need to take one stride with their long legs. Since I’m the type to look for a solution if I see a problem, I actually looked into the possibility of increasing my height. After hearing that it was possible to lengthen your limbs through the Ilizarov technique, a surgical procedure named after the Russian orthopedic surgeon, I went for a consultation to a hospital in Germany that specializes in the procedure. After the leg bone is first surgically fractured, the ring-shaped apparatus is attached and by turning the nuts on the frame, the bone is lengthened approximately one millimeter per day. I calculated that if I wanted to add 10cm to my height, I couldn’t play golf for about three years. Although it ended there, I was willing to do anything to play better golf. I still feel the same. However, growing taller does not turn K.J. Choi into Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods was a child prodigy who started golfing from the age of two, and I was a late bloomer who heard the word “golf” for the first time at the age of sixteen. Tiger received systematic training from his father, who had played college baseball, but I ran

through the woods and along the seashore, helping my own father, who was a farmer and fisherman. Tiger trained, receiving the praise and encouragement of people in a culture that enjoyed golf while I trained, encountering all kinds of obstacles in an environment where golf had not yet become popular. Tiger is a genius golfer whom the world recognizes but I’m a golfer who produces results through pure effort. In terms of physical condition, Tiger Woods is a tree that I cannot climb. But I have something that he doesn’t have. An American journalist once pointed out the one thing that I had that Tiger Woods didn’t have, saying, “Woods may have been touched by God, but K.J. Choi manages to touch the heart of God.” He was talking about my faith. Because of that faith, Tiger Woods and I are on an equal playing field. I am not Tiger Woods and I have no desire to become Tiger Woods. I just work hard and practice until the very end, that’s all. Only when I don’t settle for “that’s good enough,” only when I don’t make compromises with my shortcomings—only then will I not have useless leftover thoughts. In every tournament, the opportunity to win comes equally to both Tiger Woods and me. The reason he has more wins is because he has worked harder than me.

/The questions that are always thrown at me When I tried to qualify for the PGA Tour, people said, “Can he do it?”, “When will he go back to Korea?” and “Will he be able to adjust to the U.S.?” Now the same people are asking, “How long can he keep it up?” People may have faith in me, but many also doubt or worry about my abilities. When I won the Players Championship in 2011, a commentary written by ESPN columnist Gene Wojciechowski called into question the fact that runner-up David Toms, and Paul Goydos, who finished third, and I were all in our forties. He wrote that the fact that veteran players who should be on the Champions Tour* took up the top three spots hindered the development of the PGA Tour and that young stars needed to step up and win. The U.S. press ended up criticizing his opinion, calling it narrow-minded, and discriminatory against Asian players. But it isn’t only Wojciechowski who is interested in sending me into “forced retirement” or on the “Champions Tour.” Many people say that golfers in their forties are past their prime. Even though they say that golf is a sport where both the young and old—those in their teens and those in their sixties—can match their skills against each other’s, the professional world is very different. I cannot be upset because people don’t describe a pro golfer in his mid-forties as a rising star who is full of promise. Some even say that a golfer hits his prime at the age of 35, and the possibility of winning is capped at 45. However in all honesty, I too feel the change in my body as I step into my forties. I’d be lying if I said that I’m not at all intimidated by competing against fellow players in their twenties and thirties who are moving up the ranks vigorously. But this isn’t the answer to how long I can remain active. I am a professional. A professional speaks through his skills. If I develop my skills and play well, this becomes my answer. I know the taste of achieving each new goal. I’ve experienced that sense of accomplishment many times. I don’t want to answer the questions that people toss at me by explaining or making excuses. I want to answer through my life, through the life and skills I demonstrate.

Champions Tour: a golf tour run by the PGA Tour for golfers 50 years of age and older.

/Becoming stronger and wiser The reason that I can say these things with confidence is because I have proof. At nearly 60 years of age, Tom Watson of the United States came in second place at the 2009 Open Championship. Nicknamed the Don Quixote of the field, Spanish golfer Miguel Angel Jimenez won the Omega European Masters in 2010 at nearly fifty years of age, and American Mark Calcavecchia, although he is past 50, is still very active on the PGA Tour. Thanks to cutting edge technology and clubs made of new materials, the driving distance can be stabilized and maintained, and a golfer’s prime is becoming extended when one trains according to the new techniques that are being developed day by day. In other words, depending on how you look after yourself, you can prolong your career, even your prime. From 2008, I had already initiated a regimen to prepare for my changing body. In order to increase muscle mass, I cut down my carbohydrate intake as much as possible and through a high-protein diet, I slimmed down. I suffered for two years because the process was hard on my body, but in the end I overcame the hardships and was able to win the Players Championship in 2011. About 10 years has passed since I first came to the U.S. During that time, my technique, as well as my mental strength, has gotten stronger. If a golfer’s life span can be compared to an 18-hole course, I had only finished 11 holes by now. There was never a hole that was easy but through that process I became a little stronger and I am becoming stronger still. I much prefer myself now, older and with broad know-how, rather than a vigorous young man in his thirties. Yesterday is in the past. But today is different. I can decide how to live today. As I adjust to a situation that is different from yesterday’s, a different atmosphere and climate from yesterday’s, my job is to live faithfully in order to become a better me. Who knows what may happen tomorrow? There is no way of knowing until you live it. That’s life. So if you don’t try it today, you will surely regret it tomorrow.

“My goal isn’t to become a famous player. My goal is to become a great player.”

/I am K.J. Choi A person who isn’t willing to labor cannot receive the fruits of labor. That’s why hard work is honest. An honest mind and the fruits of your labor always pay you back. But without love, you cannot be honest. If you love something, you’ll work hard, and if you work hard, you’ll get something in return. On top of that, if there is love in your heart, you’ll be able to understand and embrace others. My goal isn’t to become a famous player. My goal is to become a great player. I want to become a player who can hold his head up high, knowing that he’s given it his all. I want to become a person who never gives up in any situation, who hurdles over difficulty and adversity no matter how hard they may be, a person who works hard out of a love in his heart, working hard because he follows a standard that he has set in his heart, not because he is looking to receive acknowledgement from others. I live for victory, not success. And it isn’t just on the golf course that I want to obtain victory. I work hard to obtain victory in life and I make sure that I am constantly evolving. That’s my way of life; that’s who I am.