But that doesn't mean that Choi is beat, he will be just two back of the Shark and a good round will make him the first male Asian to win a major championship.
For a lot of folks, the thought was that this could be the week for K.J. Choi. Again as we said in yesterday's blog, for the second year in a row at the British Open he goes into Saturday with a chance at winning and has a flat third round.
K.J. Choi stats for the day & week | ||
| Category | Today | Week (rank) |
|---|---|---|
| Fairways hit: | 4 of 14 | 24 of 42 (T77) |
| Driving average: | 305.5 | 291.7 (T47) |
| Greens hit: | 9 of 18 | 31 of 54 (T7) |
| Putts: | 30 | 87 (T8) |
| 0-putt greens: | 0 | 0 |
| 1-putt greens: | 7 | 22 |
| 2-putt greens: | 10 | 31 |
| 3-putt greens: | 1 | 1 |
Choi shot 75 and as he said "I still feel good about the round." Choi had problems today hitting fairways, he only hit 4 fairways. This lead to an erratic round in which he had just one birdie, two bogeys and two double bogeys. If there is a highlight to his week it has to be his play on the 13th hole in which he has birdied all three rounds. But if there is a low part it's the 10th hole, which he has made a par, bogey and on Saturday a double bogey.
After the round, Choi talked with Chuah Choo Chiang, the media director of the Asian Tour. As Choi told Chiang, he is looking to become the first Asian male to win a major championship. He feels that he can deny Greg Norman and Padraig Harrington tomorrow. “I will have to try to catch up. I enjoy the golf course, and I’m comfortable on this course. Today was tougher than the third round at Carnoustie in 1999 when the winds were 35mph then but today was more than that." As Choi related about the day, “I couldn’t control my tee shot or putting. The key was the putting. I was scared when I took a backswing as the wind was moving the ball.” said Choi.
K.J., nicknamed the “Tank”, will play in the second last pairing in Sunday’s final round and said that a two-shot deficit wasn’t much at Royal Birkdale. “If it is windy tomorrow, it will be tough for everyone. I had a hard time with my putting. Tomorrow, it’ll be important for me to putt well. I missed about three or four putts from inside four feet. I try to hit it harder but it was always short. The wind was blowing which made it tough,” said the Korean.
