By Rahul Banerji
He’s taken the golfing world by storm with his unorthodox swing and finish. Comparisons with the Adam Sandler film Happy Gilmore have been inevitable. Yet internet sensation and Korean star Ho Sung Choi – who is making his PGA Tour debut at the celebrity AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am – is still something of a stranger to US audiences.
Not for much longer, though. Choi will have his first outing at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am alongside US golfer Jerry Kelly, actor Chris O’Donnell and NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers but before that, he entertained the hard-boiled US media at a press interaction following a meal of hamburgers whose size took him by surprise.
From fishing to pro golf
The fisherman-turned-pro is already 45 and earned an exemption on request into this year’s high-profile event, where field includes well known faces from the world of entertainment, business and sport.
American football star Rodgers, one his partners, saw the unusual swing on the net and actually asked to be paired up with the smiling Korean at Pebble Beach.
Choi’s story is a fascinating one — he lost part of his right thumb in a chainsaw accident as a teenager and had it grafted back on, changed his swing some years ago to keep up with younger and stronger golfers on the Korean and Japan tours where he plied his early trade and took the golfing world by storm when a video of his unorthodox finish went viral.
Struck by size
“Everything here is fascinating for me because it’s my first time here experiencing everything,” Choi said ahead of his first press conference. “The size of the venue, even where we’re sitting (in the media centre), it’s just enormous. Everything is just on a larger scale. Everything is so huge compared to what I’m used to.”
According to the PGA Tour media cell, Choi began his day with a practice round at Pebble Beach Golf Links. His first round is at the Monterey Peninsula Country Club.
“It’s incredibly gorgeous outside,” Choi said. “What I was most fascinated about was the weather changed at least 10 times in a day. It was so surprising to see so many weather changes in one day.
“I’ve played on golf courses all over the world. But I don’t think any course beats the views that you have here. When I got here I played Monterrey and Spyglass. While playing out on the course, all I could see was all the scenery. I was so distracted by the beautiful scenery out here.”
Burger binge
One of the first things the Choi family – wife Jina Wang and sons Seohyun and Seoho are with him – did was to dig into a meal of hamburgers.
“What surprised me was obviously it was delicious, but the size, the portion, and the whole tray it came out on was so big. It’s so different from what I’m used to in Korea.”
Dharma, Aman Raj share halfway lead
Meanwhile, in Hyderabad, M. Dharma and Aman Raj moved into the joint lead after the second round of the Rs 40 lakh Golconda Masters powered by Telangana Tourism, while Noida golfer Gaurav Pratap Singh shattered the course record with a phenomenal 10-under-61 at the Hyderabad Golf Club on Thursday.
Bangalore’s Dharma and Aman Raj of Patna, tied second overnight, carded seven-under-64s for the second day in a row to lead on 14-under par 128, while S. Chikkarangappa, a two-time international winner, too fired a 64 on Thursday to occupy third place at 13-under-129.
Stellar show
However, it was Gaurav Pratap Singh in the limelight with his error-free 61 that saw him rise 36 places to tied fourth at 11-under-131. The 34-year-old, a former winner on the PGTI, went one better than the previous course record of 62 first set by Ajeetesh Sandhu in 2016 and then equalled by fellow NGC pro Amardip Malik on Wednesday.
Priyanshu Singh of Gurgaon, the 2019 PGTI Qualifying School champion and Delhi’s Rashid Khan also had second round cards of 64 to share fourth place with Gaurav.
Malik, the first round leader by two shots dropped to tied 13th on the day after a 2-over par 73 that took his total to seven-under-135.
For his part, Gaurav had four birdies on his first nine holes which included two conversions from eight feet and a further six on his way back to the clubhouse.
Gaurav said later, “Everything went off pretty smoothly today. I’ve been playing well since the end of last year but was just struggling with my putting a little bit. I worked hard on that aspect before the start of the new season and the result is there to see.
Good conversions
“I hit it quite close today and converted all my chances on the greens. I also had 16 greens in regulation. A couple of good par saves also helped my cause especially a great recovery from the rough on the fourth.
“The important thing for me now is not to think too far ahead and take one round at a time as it’s always hard to replicate such an effort within a short span. I made a lot of mental mistakes in round one and I would like to keep those out of my game. But today’s round definitely gives me a much-needed boost.”
PGTI Order of Merit champion Khalin Joshi of Bangalore had a 65 to be seventh at 10-under-132 while defending champion Udayan Mane of Ahmedabad hit a 66 for shared ninth place at 8-under-134.
The cut fell at level-par-142 with 50 professionals making the money rounds.
Also read: Temples and 10-gallon hats beckon golf tour operators in 2019
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