K. J. Choi finishes second at Hoag Classic

K.J. Choi plays his shot from the 16th tee during the final round at Newport Beach Country Club on Sunday in Newport Beach, California. [AFP/YONHAP]

Korean golf legend K. J. Choi finished in second place at the 2022 Hoag Classic in Newport Beach, California on Sunday, four strokes behind Retief Goosen of South Africa.

Choi on Sunday recorded his lowest round of the season with a 5-under-par, 66, and his lowest 54-hole score of 2022 with an 11-under-par, 202.

This is Choi’s second runner-up finish since joining the PGA Tour Champions in 2020. He lost the 2021 Sanford International in a playoff.

Choi has been playing on the PGA Tour Champions since May, 2020, when he qualified for the Tour after turning 50. Choi is now playing on both the PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. Just a year and a half after joining, Choi won his first Champions Tour title at the PURE Insurance Championship, marking another high point in his storied career.

Choi finished his 2020-21 season with one win at the 2021 PURE Insurance Championship and seven top-10 finishes.

Choi became the most successful golfer in Asia in 2011, when he won his eighth title at the The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in a playoff against David Toms of the United States. That title stood for more than a decade until Hideki Matsuyama of Japan tied the record this January.

Choi had four starts this season and his previous best finish was tying for 19th at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai in Hawaii before Sunday’s runner-up finish.

Choi now moves up from No. 32 in the Charles Schwab Cup standings to No. 8. He has won eight times on the PGA TOUR including 10 international titles, most recently at the 2012 CJ Invitational hosted by K.J. Choi on the Asian Tour.

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]