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]

Na Yeon Choi 최나연
Choi at the 2013 Women's British Open
Personal information
Born	28 October 1987 Seoul, South Korea
Height	5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Nationality	South Korea
Residence	Orlando, Florida[1]
Career
Turned professional	2004
Current tour(s)	LPGA Tour (joined 2008)
Former tour(s)	KLPGA Tour (joined 2004)
Professional wins	15
Number of wins by tour
LPGA Tour	9
LPGA of Korea Tour	8
Best results in LPGA major championships (wins: 1)
ANA Inspiration	T6: 2008
Women's PGA C'ship	8th: 2009
U.S. Women's Open	Won: 2012
Women's British Open	T2: 2013
Evian Championship	5th: 2014
Achievements and awards
LPGA Vare Trophy 2010 LPGA Tour Money Winner 2010

Choi Na-yeon
Hangul	최나연
Hanja	崔蘿蓮
Revised Romanization	Choe Na Yeon
McCune–Reischauer	Choi 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.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(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)

Year	Championship	Winning score	Margin	Runner-up
2012	U.S. Women's Open	−7 (71-72-65-73=281)	4 strokes	Amy Yang

Results timeline

Results not in chronological order before 2019.

Tournament	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
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

Tournament	Wins	2nd	3rd	Top-5	Top-10	Top-25	Events	Cuts made
ANA Inspiration	0	0	0	0	2	4	11	9
U.S. Women's Open	1	1	0	2	3	6	12	8
Women's PGA Championship	0	0	0	0	2	4	11	7
The Evian Championship	0	0	0	1	1	1	3	2
Women's British Open	0	1	1	2	4	6	9	7
Totals	1	2	1	5	12	21	46	33

• Most consecutive cuts made – 9 (twice)
• Longest streak of top-10s – 3 (2009 LPGA – 2009 British Open)

LPGA Tour career summary

Year	Tournaments played	Cuts made	Wins	2nds	3rds	Top 10s	Best 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

• Lexus Cup (representing Asia team): 2008
• International Crown (representing South Korea): 2014

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.

External links

• Choi Na-yeon at the LPGA Tour official site
• Choi Na-yeon at the Women's World Golf Rankings official site
• Profile on Seoul Sisters site