Seventy-five-year-old Choi Yoon-soo is still going strong. He can still hit a driver 200 meters. On Sept. 9, he set a new record for the oldest participant in Korean professional golf (74 years, 8 months, and 17 days) at the KPGA Championship, a major event on the Korean Professional Golf (KPGA) Tour. The KPGA 메이저놀이터 Championship awards lifetime memberships to past winners, and Choi has been to the top three times.
In fact, Choi’s last regular tour event was the Shinhan Donghae Open two years ago, but he made a “temporary return” at the request of the KPGA Tour this year. The KPGA Championship, which began in 1958 and has the longest history among Korean professional golf tournaments, considers the presence of legends and active players to be one of its most important values.
However, Choi said, “I no longer have the physical strength to walk 18 holes. “I’m saying goodbye to the regular tour after enjoying undeserved glory for so many years, but I still have one dream I want to fulfill,” he told the Seoul Economic Daily. That dream is to reach the 60-win plateau in his career. Choi has collected 59 trophies since turning pro in 1977 at the rather late age of twenty-nine. He has 11 wins on the regular tour, 26 wins on the Champions Tour for players aged 50 and over, and 19 wins in the Grand Senior category for players aged 60 and over. Add to that three wins on overseas senior tours, and you have 48 wins past the age of fifty. This has earned him the title of ‘senior dominant’.
Choi, who is one win away from reaching the 60-win mark, said, “I’m not greedy,” but “if I keep taking care of my body and keep challenging myself, who knows if a good day will come.” His last win came in 2018 at the KPGA Grand Senior Golf Tournament, when he was 70 years old. He plans to play in every Grand Senior event this year, often competing against “50-somethings” on the Champions Tour.
When asked about the secret to his unchanged performance as he ages, Choi said, “There is nothing special. I am blessed to have inherited a good body from my parents.” However, “I’ve been playing a lot since I was young. When I was working at a golf course, I would run whenever I had time, including running nine holes after work to check the course. Now I don’t do it as much as I used to, but I run lightly in the park near my house and walk when I’m tired.”
The most memorable day of his life as a professional golfer was the moment he turned pro. “It was July 1977, and on the last day of the 72-hole pro-am, it was raining in the morning. I played the final 18 holes in the afternoon, and I had to make par on the last 18 holes to pass, but I was short on my second shot. I hit my approach shot 1.2 meters from the hole, and I was shaking.” …. Luckily, I made that putt and became a pro. I was the only pro to pass that day.”
오래된토토사이트 “Golf is a game of confidence, and I think it’s the same in life. If you worry beforehand, you can’t do anything. You have to believe in yourself and be strong no matter what, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t practice and prepare.”