KJ Choi Crowned Senior Open Champion at Carnoustie

SOUTH KOREA’S K.J. Choi survived an early jitter in the final round to claim the first major of his career, beating Australia’s Richard Green to win The Senior Open Championship at Carnoustie.

Choi, 54, finished with a 2-under-par 70 on the final round and ended up with a total of 10-under-par 278. He was the only golfer in the field to break par every day in what was his first victory since the 2021 PURE Insurance Championship.

• Video Highlights
• KJ Player Profile

He had three bogeys in his first six holes and it looks like the title might be slipping from his grasp, but there were also four birdies and, crucially, an eagle at the par-five 14th that effectively secured the win. He could even afford to finish with a dropped shot at the last.

Choi said: “It’s unbelievable, today’s game [that I played]. I started very nervous but still kept my attention. [Later], I felt better working; there was more fire, and the swing was more comfortable.”

Choi entered the final round with a one-stroke lead over Green, who was bidding for his first major on the Champions Tour. Green shot a 71 to finish in second place at 8-under. He shot even-par on the front nine before recording four birdies against three bogeys on the back nine. He finished two ahead of England's Paul Broadhurst, who won the tournament in 2016 at Carnoustie.

“I was a little bit tentative, leaving everything a foot and a half short," Broadhurst said. "Obviously K.J. has played really well around the back. I don't know what happened but he went from nowhere to four clear. He's obviously killed it somewhere around the mid part of the round. So great stuff to him. He's played really well."

Ireland's Padraig Harrington finished second at the event in each of the past two years and was desperate to win. But his hopes disappeared with a triple bogey and a double bogey on the first two holes.

"Yeah, look, that's what happens in this game," Harrington said. "I knew I had to push today. I had three good eagle chances and I could have slipped a few more putts in. But the good news for me is K.J. has run away with it, which is a nice thing. I would hate to be finishing up today and 6-under par, 7-under par was winning; it was would have been a disappointing day."

Video Highlights

KJ Choi Player Profile

Choi was born in Wando, South Korea on May 19, 1974. He turned professional in 1994 after fulfilling his military service.

After establishing his career on the Korean Tour, where he picked up his first professional win in 1995, and the Japan Golf Tour, where he won twice in 1999, Choi qualified for membership of the PGA Tour in 1999. He was the first Korean to do so and in his rookie season in 2000 he finished 134th on the money list and had to go back to qualifying school.

In 2002 he won the Compaq Classic of New Orleans and later that year added the Tampa Bay Classic.

The following year he won the German Masters.

Choi won The Memorial in 2007 and later said that reading Jack Nicklaus’ book Golf My Way helped him to become the golfer he was.

He also won the AT&T National, holing a stunning bunker shot on the penultimate hole for a birdie to clinch the win over Steve Stricker by 3 shots. In August 2007 he reached the top 10 in the world rankings for the first time. In January 2008, Choi won the Sony Open and rose to world number seven and two months later he climbed to number five.

After his seventh PGA Tour victory at the 2008 Sony Open, Choi donated $320,000 of his earnings to the victims' families of a warehouse fire in Seoul, South Korea, that killed more than 40 people.

In May 2011, Choi won The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, beating David Toms in a playoff.  Choi had a one shot lead going down the 18th hole in regulation time, but Toms made birdie while Choi could only chip and putt for a par taking it to a sudden-death playoff. Both players found the green at the first extra hole, the 17th, and then missed with their attempted birdie efforts. But Toms missed the return four footer for par leaving Choi with a three-foot par putt to seal victory. After this success he donated $200,000 to help victims of the tornadoes that had ripped through the southereastern United States.

In February 2016, Choi was runner-up at the Farmers Insurance Open to Brandt Snedeker. This was notable because it was the first time in his PGA Tour career that he did not convert a 54-hole lead or co-lead into a win.

In May 2020, Choi turned 50 years of age and qualified for the PGA Tour Champions and the following year he won the PURE Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach. In 80 starts he has missed just one cut.

In November 2022, Choi visited Vietnam to co-design Amber Hills Golf & Resort, Rock Valley Course with golf architect Paul Albanese in Bac Giang province near Hanoi.

He averages 263.2 yards from the tee, hits 71.91% of fairways and find 70.80% of greens in regulation. He gets up and down from the sand58.49% of the time, averages 29 putts per round, 3.91 birdies per round and has a scoring average of 69.80.