Choi eyes more glory after Arkansas late show

None of that mattered, however.





Her trusty 8 iron never lets her down.

Trailing American favourite Stacy Lewis by a stroke with three holes left to play, South Korean Choi turned to her number 8 at the par 4 16th and sent her ball streaking towards the pin from 142 yards away.

Clunk. Eagle.

A stroke ahead now, Choi faced the tricky par 3 17th and there was no question which club she would use.

Again her ball looked as if it would disappear straight down the hole but pulled up a foot short to leave her with the easiest of birdies.

A par at the last and Choi was home, earning her second win of the season, her ninth career LPGA title and taking her earnings through the $10 million mark.

"Breaking the $10 million mark was one of my goals," she told Korea's Yonhap News agency.

"I also want to participate in the Olympics and finish top of the money list, but a few years ago I was challenging to be world number one and I didn't do what I needed to do.

"I won't make the same mistake again."





FAVOURITE IRON

Ranked 20th in the world, Choi has a lot of work to do to knock fellow South Korean Park In-bee off her perch as world number one.

Park, who surprisingly missed the cut in Arkansas, the first time in over a year she has failed to see out the final rounds, has won five of the last 12 majors and will be favourite going into next month's U.S. Open.

"I've had two wins in a season before but never three, so I want that third win," said Choi, whose only victory at a major championship came at the 2012 U.S. Open.

"This year I want a major as well. There is still half the season left so I think I will have the chance," added the 27-year-old, who finished runner-up at the British Open in 2013.

"I still regret not being able to go one better than second at the British Open, so my goal is to have my name on one of the remaining majors this year.”

Choi did not manage to win on the LPGA Tour last year, or the year before. She thinks she may have been pursuing her goals too hard.

"There's nothing particularly different about what I'm doing this year but unexpectedly the results have been good," she added. "I set goals when the season started but I've tried not to think about them.

"Previously I got too greedy and it all fell apart."

As for her performance over the closing holes on Sunday, Choi said long hours of practice with her 8 iron paid off.

"Since I was in the third year of middle school the distance with my 8 iron has always been consistent," she added. "140-145 yards. I practise a lot with it and it's my favourite iron."





(Reporting by Oh Seung-yun, Writing by Peter Rutherford; Editing by Sudipto Ganguly)


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Source: Reuters


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