Choi has major chance to be first Asian winner

Choi, 37, the steely Korean who shortened his name to initials to help the tee announcer when he made his Open debut here 10 years ago, birdied the last two holes to shoot a 67 and move clear at the top of the leaderboard.

He finished eighth at Carnoustie last year and, having emerged from a mid-season slump, is priming himself for a sustained shot at a piece of history tomorrow.

“I feel very good this week – my swing is very powerful and simple. I’ve never led a Major before but the experiences of playing in numerous other Majors have taught me to stay patient and not be too aggressive,” said Choi.

“This was the best round I’ve ever played at The Open – everything worked the way I wanted it to – but the key thing now is to finish it. If I were to win, the reaction in Korea would be tremendous. I know there are a lot of people praying for me back home.”

Choi did not pick up a golf club until he was 16, preferring weightlifting as a sporting pursuit but, having worked his way successfully around the world’s tours, he is making up for lost time. 

He is renowned as a mental hard-nut as well as a formidable striker of a ball and is threatening to emulate the success of Korea’s powerful stable of women golfers. Despite his Far Eastern upbringing and the fact that he now lives in steamy Houston, he feels surprisingly at home on the chilly Merseyside coast.

“I like to play links courses because, when I stand on the tee, I feel I can see everything. It’s easy for me to spot a target and go for it,” he said.

Pre-tournament favourite Sergio Garcia is six shots behind Choi at five over, after carelessly missing a foot-long putt on the 18th hole. Garcia beat himself about the head after his error and the man dubbed ‘El Nino’ admitted he needs freak weather conditions today to get himself back into contention. He was trying to avoid stepping on the line of another putt at the time and blamed a lack of concentration for what could be a costly miss.

“I screwed up on the 18th,” he said. “I was more worried about other things than the putt itself.

“That happens sometimes. I was looking at the line of the other ball, wondering if you should mark or not and then, suddenly, I had missed it. While I appeared calm on the outside, the things I was saying to myself were not very nice. You don’t want to give away shots like I did today.”

But Spaniard Garcia, favourite before the tournament began, added: “I didn’t rush it. That’s what happens sometimes. But it’s ok, I’m still alive.

“I feel like I still have a good chance and it’s far from over. I just have to make sure I don’t make any mistakes.”

137th OPEN CH’SHIP (Royal Birkdale GC, Southport, Merseyside)—2nd Rnd Latest Scores (Gbr & Irl unless stated):

139KJ Choi (Kor) 72 67

140 G Norman (Aus) 70 70

141 C Villegas (Col) 76 65

142 A Noren (Swe) 72 70, Robert Allenby (Aus) 69 73, J Furyk (USA) 71 71, G McDowell 69 73, R Mediate (USA) 69 73, P Harrington 74 68

143 P Hanson (Swe) 71 72, F Jacobson (Swe) 71 72, S Appleby (Aus) 72 71, S Ames (Can) 73 70

144 A Wall 71 73, A Scott (Aus) 70 74, S Hansen (Den) 75 69, J de velde (Fra) 73 71, 

S Verplank (USA) 77 67

145 C Wood 75 70, SGarcia (Spa) 72 73, Z Johnson (USA) 73 72, J Williamson (USA) 73 72, S Wakefield 71 74

146 R Goosen (Rsa) 71 75,  A Hansen (Den) 78 68, R Fisher 72 74, N Dougherty 75 71, G Storm 76 70, A Kim (USA) 72 74, JRose 74 72, G Havret (Fra) 71 75

147 J-B Gonnet (Fra) 75 72, J Overton (USA) 72 75, D Howell 76 71, P Waring 73 74, B Curtis (USA) 78 69, M Kaymer (Ger) 75 72, B Jones (Aus) 74 73, T Lehman (USA) 74 73, C-b Lam (Sin) 72 75, J Leonard (USA) 77 70, KStadler (USA) 72 75, C Parry (Aus) 77 70

148 S Stricker (USA) 77 71, B Bryant (USA) 70 78, W Austin (USA) 76 72, T Hamilton (USA) 74 74, R Karlsson (Swe) 75 73, J Rollins (USA) 73 75, T Immelman (Rsa) 74 74, S OHair (USA) 75 73, R Green (Aus) 76 72, W-C Liang (Chn) 77 71, J Lomas 75 73, G Bourdy (Fra) 74 74, D Labelle (USA) 78 70, H Stenson (Swe) 76 72

149 M Wiegele (Aut) 75 74, M  Campbell (Nzl) 75 74, A Romero (Arg) 77 72, D Love III (USA) 75 74, L Glover (USA) 78 71, P Larrazabal (Spa) 75 74, J-F Lima (Por) 73 76, E Els (Rsa) 80 69, 

L Westwood 75 74

150 D McGrane 79 71, P Perez (USA) 82 68, S McCarron (USA) 75 75, J Kingston (Rsa) 77 73, T Watson (USA) 74 76, Y Tsukada (Jpn) 75 75, P Baker 75 75, A Yano (Jpn) 74 76, S Cink (USA) 75 75, A Cejka (Ger) 76 74, A Baddeley (Aus) 75 75, P Lawrie 77 73, P Marksaeng (Tha) 77 73, P Appleyard 74 76, R Sterne (Rsa) 78 72

151 A Tampion (Aus) 78 73, O Wilson 77 74, S Kjeldsen (Den) 81 70, G Ogilvy (Aus) 77 74, 

C Howell III (USA) 76 75, V Singh (Fij) 80 71, M OMeara (USA) 74 77, M Calcavecchia (USA) 76 75, 

R Imada (Jpn) 77 74, B Snedeker (USA) 72 79

152 H Mahan (USA) 80 72, M Letzig (USA) 78 74, D Smail (Nzl) 76 76, N Fasth (Swe) 79 73, M Kuchar (USA) 79 73, S Dyson 82 70, B Hebert (Fra) 79 73, J Edfors (Swe) 78 74

153 T Clark (Rsa) 76 77

154 R Pampling (Aus) 77 77, R Sabbatini (Rsa) 79 75, J Quinney (USA) 79 75, M A Jimenez (Spa) 72 82, D McGuigan 79 75, A Que (Phi) 76 78, A Cabrera (Arg) 77 77

155 E Porter (Aus) 76 79

156 JB Holmes (USA) 79 77, H Otto (Rsa) 79 77, S Strange (Aus) 84 72

157 R Saxton (Ned) 80 77, H Iwata (Jpn) 73 84

159 S Webster 79 80, P Walton 77 82

160 J Kelly (USA) 83 77, D Fichardt (Rsa) 82 78

163 D Chia (Mal) 76 87

164 P Fowler (Aus) 82 82.