Tag: 2020 Honda Classic

How a former college superstar used a breakthrough week on Sungjae Im’s bag to kickstart his own pro career

Choi was a three-time All-American at North Carolina State. He’s now playing on the Korn Ferry Tour.

LAKEWOOD RANCH, Fla. — Albin Choi turned last year’s LECOM Suncoast Classic into a major stepping stone in his return to playing professional golf.

The 29-year-old from Toronto shot a 66 in the Monday qualifier one year ago to earn a berth in the field of 144. He responded by firing a first-round, 9-under 62 to tie the tournament’s 18-hole record before eventually finishing in a tie for 14th place.

“It was a good week for me,” said Choi, who is back at Lakewood National Golf Club this week for another crack at the title. “It just means a little more to me now.”

Choi is back on solid ground this time around following a tumultuous decade in his life.

Choi starred at North Carolina State, where he won nine collegiate titles and was a three-time All-American before turning pro in 2013. He was the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year in the spring of 2013.

It was during his college career in 2011 that his mother Ericka took her own life.

“As far as the journey goes, it’s not something I saw coming or anyone else saw coming,” Choi said.

Choi soldiered on with his golf career, playing in 110 Korn Ferry tournaments with six top 10 finishes before the bottom fell out following the 2019 season. He lost his Korn Ferry playing status and suddenly found himself in some serious debt.

But Choi began the climb back by working as a caddie at the posh Old Palm Golf Club in Palm Beach Gardens. He was caddying as many as 36 holes per day, while he continued to work on his game.

Then Choi caught a break in 2020 when PGA Tour player Sungjae Im asked him to carry his bag for the Honda Classic. Im went on to win his first PGA title and Choi received 10% of Im’s $1.26 million paycheck, along with the base caddie rate and a healthy tip.

[vertical-gallery id=778028713]

The two had become friends in 2018 while playing together on the Korn Ferry Tour. Choi, who speaks fluent English and Korean, also served as Im’s translator, as well as caddie, for a period of five months.

His time as Im’s caddy enabled him to get back on his financial feet and allowed him the opportunity to resume his own playing career. It also offered him a unique view of the game at its highest level.

“From a learning perspective, it was one of the best experiences I could have had,” Choi said. “I had a front-row seat to see how the players prepare and how they go about their business, on and off the golf course. I am always trying to learn. I got to experience that.

“I knew a lot of the guys out there. I watched how hard they worked. It motivated me to work a little bit harder. Seeing the level of play out there was good for me to see.”

For now, Choi is simply glad to be back on the course, playing the game he cares so much about.

“I’m just happy to be here with everything that has been going on the last few years,” he said. “I have been given another chance to play and compete, so I can’t ask for anything more.

“I love playing. It’s something that I have always done. As long as my body allows me to play, I am just going to keep playing as long as I can.”

LECOM Suncoast Classic

WHAT: Regular stop on the Korn Ferry Tour, the path to the PGA Tour.
WHO: 144 golfers competing for 72 holes of stroke play.
WHEN: Today-Sunday.
WHERE: Lakewood National Golf Club (Commander course, par-71, 7,112 yards).
PURSE: $750,000 (top prize is $135,000).
TICKETS: $20 at the gate for adults, children under-17, active duty military, veterans and first responders are admitted free of charge with a valid ID.
PARKING: Free.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=none image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Paul Azinger Interview

Golfweek’s Steve DiMeglio chats with Paul Azinger about life in quarantine, his comments at the Honda Classic, and the first time he played with Tiger.

Golfweek’s Steve DiMeglio chats with Paul Azinger about life in quarantine, his comments at the Honda Classic, and the first time he played with Tiger.

Sungjae Im drives off with his maiden PGA Tour title at Honda Classic

The 21-year-old Im fired a 4-under 66 and edged Canadian Mackenzie Hughes by one stroke at PGA National.

Sungjae Im finally backed up his reputation as one of the emerging stars of the PGA Tour by earning his maiden victory at the Honda Classic.

Im, the 21-year-old reigning Tour rookie of the year, played the infamous Bear Trap, three consecutive water-laden holes beginning at 15 at the Jack Nicklaus-designed Champion course at PGA National Resort and Spa, in 2 under en route to shooting a final-round 4-under 66. Im had to scramble for par at the par-5 18 to finish at 6-under 274, and edged Canadian Mackenzie Hughes by one stroke.

“I’ve been in this spot many times. I just felt like the experiences really helped, especially on the last few holes. I just wanted to get a little more aggressive [on the last four holes]. I was just happy to finish the way that I did,” Im said through his caddie, Albin Choi, who served as an interpreter.

Im, who turned pro at age 17, played a Tour-high 35 tournaments last season, recording seven top-10 finishes and was the only rookie to qualify for the 30-man Tour Championship last season. His teammates at the Presidents Cup called him “The Weapon,” and his swing has been compared to the USGA ball-testing robot Iron Byron because it is so repeatable. The South Korean, who entered the week ranked No. 34 in the world, also doesn’t have a permanent residence and lives week-to-week at hotels with his parents joining him in a separate room and helping him in his U.S. adventure.

On a wild day where no less than four golfers held or shared the lead, Im birdied four of the five first holes to cut into the lead of 54-hole leader Tommy Fleetwood. Im took just 11 putts in his first 10 holes before back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 12 and 13 temporarily slowed his march to victory.

Hughes, 29, nearly went from the cutline to the winner’s circle. After making the cut on the number at 3 over, Hughes shot 66, the low round of the day on Saturday, to improve 51 spots. Playing alongside Im, Hughes holed a bunker shot at 13 on Sunday and played his first 15 holes without a bogey to join the trophy chase.

Fleetwood, No. 12 in the world has won five times on the European Tour but he’s the only player in the top 20 of the world ranking without a victory on the PGA Tour. Fleetwood, runner up at the 2018 U.S. Open and 2019 British Open, raced to a three-stroke lead with birdies on the first two holes, but failed to make another birdie until 17 and hit his second shot at 18 in the water to blow another chance to put an end to the questions of when he will win on the PGA Tour. Fleetwood finished alone in third after a 1-over 71.

Im seized the moment at 15, where water guards both the front and right sides of the green, and a large bunker to the left is a magnet for those who bail out. Im stuck a 5-iron to 8 feet and canned the putt for birdie, and knocked his tee shot to 8 feet again at 17 and rolled the downhill putt in moments after Hughes poured in a 54-foot birdie putt to momentarily tie for the lead. But Hughes, who had missed five cuts in a row and hadn’t recorded a top-10 finish since the Charles Schwab Challenge in May, hooked his second shot into the stands at 18 and failed to make birdie. He finished with a second straight 66.

Im was the 36-hole leader at Honda a year ago, but the moment proved to be too big for him and he ballooned to a Saturday 77 and finished T-51. Not this time. Im became the youngest champion of the Honda Classic and the 14th international player to win the title in the last 27 years.

“Even after winning Rookie of the Year and having a few chances to win, I really wanted to get that win,” Im said. “Had a few good chances that slipped away, but I’m also still very grateful that I could win at such a young age, and to have it happen as fast as it did, I’m very happy and satisfied.”

Brendan Steele misses out on bagging a Honda, but grabs 36-hole lead

Brendan Steele nearly aced his nemesis hole, No. 15 at PGA National, and fired a 3-under 67 for a 1-stroke lead over a trio of players.

[jwplayer ln1xsZ89-9JtFt04J]

The Bear Trap at the Jack Nicklaus-designed Champion course at PGA National Resort & Spa has owned Brendan Steele for the better part of his career. He arrived at the 15th, the first of three consecutive menacing holes, 26 over par for his previous 31 attempts at the infamous stretch, and 12 over on the 15th alone.

But this time would be different. Steele gazed at the water-laden par-3, playing 178 yards on this day, and thought, “Great number,” he said. “It was just kind of as hard as I could hit an 8-iron.”

Steele, 36, launched a beauty that landed just shy of the hole and turned left for the cup. It looked to be an ace, but horseshoed out of the hole, stopping within kick in distance for a birdie that extended his lead. A hole-in-one would have won him a Honda, but nothing could deflate Steele as he signed for a 3-under 67 and a one-stroke lead over three players at the midway point of the Honda Classic.

“I wish it would have gone in, but I was happy to tap in and move on,” Steele said of his near ace at 15.

Despite a bogey at 18 after going for the green in two and finding the water, Steele grabbed his second solo 36-hole lead of the season and his 36-hole score of 5-under 135 is 17 strokes better than he fared through two rounds in the Honda last year.

“I felt this good at Sony and it paid off, and I’m feeling that way again,” said Steele, who lost the Sony Open in Hawaii in a sudden-death playoff to Cameron Smith last month.

J.T. Poston followed up 67 with a 69 on Friday morning and is tied for second with the English duo of Lee Westwood and Luke Donald, a pair of 40-somethings at 4-under 136. Englishman Tommy Fleetwood, who made his Tour-best 33rdconsecutive cut is two strokes farther back after a 68.

That’s three Union Jacks bunched together and all bidding for a Tour title this weekend that would be a long time coming. Westwood, who was victorious earlier this year at the European Tour’s Abu Dhabi Championship, hasn’t won on U.S. soil since the 2010 FedEx St. Jude Invitational, while Donald’s last triumph was the 2012 Valspar Championship. And Fleetwood? He’s seeking his maiden victory on the PGA Tour.

PGA National, where the winning score of the Honda Classic has been in single digits in seven of the last nine years, is its typical torture chamber. But the unusually chilly temperatures and breezy conditions haven’t given Donald, Westwood and Fleetwood fits.

“A cold morning like this morning doesn’t really faze us too much,” Westwood explained. “We’re definitely not getting the snoods out and the beanies.”

Westwood, who turns 47 in April, is playing this week on a sponsor’s exemption that he requested from the tournament director last May at the PGA Championship. Westwood credited his resurgence to the work he’s done on his swing with swing instructor Robert Rock and with instructor Phil Kenyon on his putting.

Westwood started controlling his ball flight better since working with Rock in September, and Kenyon got Westwood to switch to the claw grip at about the same time. Westwood also has worked with a psychiatrist and adopted a more carefree attitude to the game.

“I’m not sure it’s ever been this enjoyable,” said Westwood after shooting 69 on Friday. “You know, I’ve always almost treated it too seriously. It’s nice to go out there and not really care.”

“Lee has obviously proven that age is just a number,” said Donald, 42, who tied for the low round of the day with a 66. “Obviously I’ve had a little bit of a lean period the last couple years, but just seeing those guys continue to grind and continue to fight and do well, you know, it’s nice to see, and certainly it motivates me.”

Younger, longer, more athletic players have emerged and knocked Donald and Westwood, two former World No. 1s who never managed to win a major, from the ranks of the Tour’s elite, but they’re proving they’re not done yet. Westwood told a colorful tale of what it is like for him to play with these young stars who are often half his age.

“They’ll say, ‘How long have you been out here? And I say, ‘This is my 28th season,’ and they’ll be like, ‘Oh, right,’ and then I look at them, and I can see that they’re thinking, I’m only 24. Or, ‘When did you turn pro? 1993. How old are you? Oh, yeah, same age as my dad.’ That’s always a good one. I like that one. I just put a bit extra into the next drive and try to knock it past them.”

An already light field, with only one of the top-10 ranked players in the world electing to play this week, was dealt another blow when World No. 3 Brooks Koepka, Rickie Fowler, Louis Oosthuizen and Justin Rose were all dismissed after missing the 36-hole cut. Only eight strokes separate first from last among the 69 players that will make the weekend.

“I’m looking forward to the grind this weekend,” Steele said. “I know it’s going to be really hard around here. There’s really no easy shots, so you’ve got to be ready.”

[opinary poll=”what-are-your-thoughts-on-the-proposed-p-rHaSoW” customer=”golfweek”]

[lawrence-related id=778028849,778028835,778028540]