Sunday 7th March| K.J Choi continued his recent run of strong play with a 2nd place finish behind compatriot Noh Seung-yul at the Maybank Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The experienced South Korean lovingly called “the tank” by his peers handled the severe heat and humidity impressively to finish at 13 under par for the tournament. Choi birdied the final hole to put pressure on the 18 year old Noh coming down the par 5 18th tied for the lead. After taking an adventurous route on the 18th which included playing through the crowds after taking relief from the practice putting green, Noh hit a clutch pitch to 3 feet and sank the putt for birdie to win by one.

Choi, however, will take plenty of positives from a week which saw him continue to strike the ball extremely well, only to fall short (and only just) with the putter. When asked if he was disappointed at not winning he said:

“No I’m not disappointed at all. I played well and tried my best. My hats off to Seung-yul (Noh), he played well and had a fantastic round. I’m happy with how my game has improved and I have a lot to look forward to. The pin positions were tough but I held my game and managed to be in contention. Noh played brilliantly and I have no complaints.”

To his credit, Choi showed some great spirit by joining in the celebrations with young Noh as he closed out the win. He joined his Korean compatriots in showering the winner with water- a Korean tradition.

Choi enjoyed great support all week from the crowds at the Kuala Lumpur Golf Club, who seemed to adopt him as an honorary Malaysian for the week. After struggling with his game last year, Choi has started off 2010 in positive fashion with some encouraging results on the US PGA Tour including a T15 at the Farmers Insurance Open and T20 and T21 finishes at the Mayakoba Golf Classic and the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am respectively.

Choi’s coach Steve Bann has been predicting a strong run of play from him in the last few weeks, having seen his game improve significantly in their practice sessions:

“K.J is starting to look scary good in practice. He has gained about a club in distance and is absolutely striping it. He just needs a little bit of tidying up here and there and we’ll be good to go. He is too good a player to be outside the top 50 in the world and I am confident he will be right back where he belongs in no time. I am very pleased with his progress and just excited to see him complete the final step of the Confidence Cycle and bring it onto the course in competition for 4 straight rounds.”

A big thanks to our friends at Pure Golf Blog for this story.

JOHOR BAHRU, Malaysia, Oct 25 – South Korea’s KJ Choi made his return to the Asian Tour a memorable one with a four-stroke victory at the Iskandar Johor Open on Sunday.

Choi posted an eight-under-par 64 in the third round, his second 64 in a row, for a 20-under total of 196 in an event reduced to 54 holes due to bad weather.

It was a special homecoming for Choi, who started his career on the Asian Tour and now plays regularly in the U.S. The gritty South Korean, affectionately known as “The Tank” for his strong build, has won seven times on the US PGA Tour. K.J works with IIG coach Steve Bann.

“It is not easy to win on the Asian Tour. The depth of talent here is very deep,” Choi told the media after hitting eight birdies in a bogey-free round.

The Korean made a spectacular par save at the 15th after finding the water with his tee shot, holing a chip from 10 yards.

The win couldn’t have come at a better time for Choi, who hasn’t had the best of years on the PGA Tour. However, he has emphatically broken through whatever barriers were holding him back thus far this year and looks to be in top form heading towards the end of the season.