Choi Na-yeon

Na Yeon Choi (Korean: 최나연 [tɕʰwe najʌn]; born 28 October 1987) is a South Korean female professional golfer playing on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour. In July 2012, she won the U.S. Women's Open for her first major championship.[2]

In this Korean name, the family name is Choi.
Na Yeon Choi
최나연
Personal information
Born (1987-10-28) 28 October 1987
Seoul, South Korea
Height5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Nationality South Korea
ResidenceOrlando, Florida[1]
Career
Turned professional2004
Current tour(s)LPGA Tour (joined 2008)
Former tour(s)KLPGA Tour (joined 2004)
Professional wins15
Number of wins by tour
LPGA Tour9
LPGA of Korea Tour8
Best results in LPGA major championships
(wins: 1)
ANA InspirationT6: 2008
Women's PGA C'ship8th: 2009
U.S. Women's OpenWon: 2012
Women's British OpenT2: 2013
Evian Championship5th: 2014
Achievements and awards
LPGA Vare Trophy2010
LPGA Tour
Money Winner		2010
Choi Na-yeon
Hangul
최나연
Hanja
崔蘿蓮
Revised RomanizationChoe Na Yeon
McCune–ReischauerChoi Na Yŏn

Amateur career

At age 17 in 2004, Choi won the ADT CAPS Invitational on the LPGA of Korea Tour (KLPGA), beating future Hall-of-Famer Se Ri Pak by four strokes. Choi turned professional shortly thereafter, in November 2004. She won once each year on the KLPGA Tour in 2004 through 2007.

Professional career

In 2007, Choi played in the Hana Bank-KOLON Championship, an event co-sponsored by the LPGA and KLPGA Tours, and finished eighth. She attended LPGA Qualifying Tournament in the fall of 2007, but finished two shots shy of earning a fully exempt Tour card for the 2008 season. Her non-exempt card meant she was not automatically eligible for every event, yet her high conditional status and consistent good play put her in nearly every tournament. She won over $1 million and finished 11th on the 2008 money list with nine top-10 finishes in 27 events played. She finished second in the LPGA Rookie of the Year race, just behind winner Yani Tseng.[3]

In 2009, Choi won twice on the LPGA Tour. In October she won the 20-player Samsung World Championship. Two weeks later she won the Hana Bank-KOLON Championship, an event co-sanctioned with the KLPGA.[4] Her third LPGA Tour win came in July 2010 at the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic at which she beat three other players on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff.[5] In 2010, Choi was both the LPGA Tour money leader and the leading scorer (Vare Trophy).[6]

Professional wins (15)

LPGA Tour wins (9)
Legend
Major championships (1)
Other LPGA Tour (8)
No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up Earnings ($)
1 20 Sep 2009 Samsung World Championship 71-67-63-71=272 −16 1 stroke Ai Miyazato 250,000
2 1 Nov 2009 Hana Bank-KOLON Championship 68-71-67=206 −10 1 stroke Maria Hjorth
Yani Tseng		 255,000
3 4 Jul 2010 Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic 64-67-68-71=270 −14 Playoff Christina Kim
In-Kyung Kim
Song-Hee Kim		 150,000
4 31 Oct 2010 LPGA Hana Bank Championship 69-68-69=206 −10 2 strokes Vicky Hurst 270,000
5 16 Oct 2011 Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia 66-68-67-68=269 −15 1 stroke Yani Tseng 285,000
6 8 Jul 2012 U.S. Women's Open 71-72-65-73=281 −7 4 strokes Amy Yang 585,000
7 18 Nov 2012 CME Group Titleholders 67-68-69-70=274 −14 2 strokes So Yeon Ryu 500,000
8 31 Jan 2015 Coates Golf Championship 68-70-66-68=272 −16 1 stroke Jang Ha-na
Lydia Ko
Jessica Korda		 225,000
9 28 Jun 2015 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship 66-63-69=198 −15 2 strokes Mika Miyazato 300,000

LPGA Tour playoff record (1–3)

No.YearTournamentOpponent(s)Result
1 2008 Evian Masters Helen Alfredsson
Angela Park		 Alfredsson won with birdie on third extra hole
Park eliminated with birdie on first hole
2 2010 Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic Christina Kim
In-Kyung Kim
Song-Hee Kim		 Won with birdie on second extra hole
3 2011 Safeway Classic Suzann Pettersen Lost to par on first extra hole
4 2012 HSBC Women's Champions Shanshan Feng
Jenny Shin
Angela Stanford		 Stanford won with par on third extra hole
Choi eliminated with par on second hole
Feng eliminated with par on first hole

LPGA of Korea Tour wins (8)
No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 6 Nov 2004 ADT CAPS Invitational (as an amateur) 68-66-68=202 −14 4 strokes Pak Se-ri
Han Ji-yeon
Kim So-hee
2 3 Jun 2005 Lakeside Ladies Open 71-69-71=211 −5 1 stroke Lim Seo-hyun
Shin Eun-jeong
Kim Seon-A
3 30 Sep 2006 KB Star Tour 3rd Tournament in Hampyeong 68-67-69=204 −12 3 strokes Jiyai Shin
4 21 Sep 2007 Shinsegae Cup KLPGA Championship 68-69-68=205 −11 3 strokes Ji Eun-hee
5 1 Nov 2009 Hana Bank-KOLON Championship (co-sanctioned with LPGA) 67-68-71=206 −10 1 stroke Yani Tseng
Maria Hjorth
6 31 Oct 2010 LPGA Hana Bank Championship (co-sanctioned with LPGA) 69-69-68=206 −10 2 strokes Vicky Hurst
7 4 Sep 2011 Hanwha Finance Classic 72-75-71-69=287 −1 4 strokes Choi Hye-yong
8 9 Dec 2012 Swinging Skirts World Ladies Masters 73-68-72=213 −3 Playoff Teresa Lu

Major championships

Wins (1)
YearChampionshipWinning scoreMarginRunner-up
2012U.S. Women's Open−7 (71-72-65-73=281)4 strokes Amy Yang

Results timeline

Results not in chronological order before 2019.

Tournament2007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019
ANA Inspiration T6 T40 T27 T47 T8 T32 T16 T29 T18 CUT CUT
U.S. Women's Open CUT T19 T9 T2 CUT 1 T17 T13 T26 CUT T60 CUT
Women's PGA Championship T18 8 CUT T43 DQ T9 T25 T34 CUT CUT T71
The Evian Championship ^ T44 5 WD
Women's British Open T21 T8 T3 T7 T13 T2 CUT T61 CUT

^ The Evian Championship was added as a major in 2013

  Win
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
DQ = disqualified
T = tied

Summary
TournamentWins2nd3rdTop-5Top-10Top-25EventsCuts made
ANA Inspiration000024119
U.S. Women's Open110236128
Women's PGA Championship000024117
The Evian Championship00011132
Women's British Open01124697
Totals121512214633
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 9 (twice)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 3 (2009 LPGA – 2009 British Open)

LPGA Tour career summary
YearTournaments
played		Cuts
made		Wins2nds3rdsTop 10sBest
finish		Earnings
($)		Money
list rank		Scoring
average		Scoring
rank
2005 2 1 0 0 0 0 T14 18,136 n/a 73.80 n/a
2006 2 2 0 0 0 0 T11 29,113 n/a 72.17 n/a
2007 3 1 0 0 0 1 T8 27,899 n/a 75.00 n/a
2008 27 27 0 2 1 9 T2 1,095,759 11 71.10 8
2009 26 26 2 0 3 11 1 1,341,078 6 70.51 7
2010 23 22 2 4 2 15 1 1,871,166 1 69.87 1
2011 21 20 1 2 3 12 1 1,357,382 3 70.53 2
2012 22 22 2 3 1 10 1 1,981,834 2 70.49 5
2013 24 24 0 2 0 8 2 929,964 9 70.31 5
2014 26 24 0 1 1 6 2 945,813 13 70.54 10
2015 22 20 2 0 0 3 1 808,566 17 71.76 48
2016 24 13 0 0 1 3 T3 348,390 55 72.55 93
2017 20 9 0 0 0 1 T7 46,311 135 72.81 142
2018 4 1 0 0 0 0 T62 2,988 177 74.40 n/a
2019 21 11 0 0 1 1 T3 132,699 95 72.15 109
2020 6 2 0 0 0 0 T43 7,263 160 72.69 n/a
  • official through 2020 season[7]

Team appearances

Professional

References
  1. LPGA.com, LPGA 2013 Player Guide Archived 5 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  2. "US Women's Open: South Korea's Na Yeon Choi wins by four shots". BBC Sport. 9 July 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  3. "Ochoa clinches third Rolex award". Iseekgolf.com. 24 November 2008. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
  4. "Choi Na-Yeon wins Hana Bank Kolon Championship". The Times of India. 1 November 2009. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
  5. "Choi loses lead, then wins Farr in playoff". Golf Channel. Associated Press. 4 July 2010. Archived from the original on 18 July 2010. Retrieved 2 November 2010.
  6. Lee, Yeong Ho (12 December 2010). "LPGA 상금왕 최나연, 기부천사로 '우뚝'". Yeonhap News. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
  7. "Na Yeon Choi stats". LPGA. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
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