For retiring South Korean golfer Choi Na-yeon, a stunning hole-in-one in her final LPGA tournament Saturday felt like a well-deserved reward — for the job well done over a 15-year career that included nine victories but also some difficult moments.
Choi’s ace came at the par-three 12th hole during the third round of the BMW Ladies Championship at Oak Valley Country Club in Wonju, some 85 kilometers east of Seoul. It was her fourth career LPGA hole-in-one.
Choi began the third round at five-over, well out of contention, but shot a three-under 69 on Saturday. It was her first round in the 60s this week.
Choi, a nine-time LPGA winner and the 2012 U.S. Women’s Open champion, announced her retirement plans earlier this month. She said the BMW Ladies Championship, the lone LPGA event in South Korea each season, would be her LPGA swan song.
On that par-three hole, Choi’s six-iron dropped just short of the cup, and the ball soon disappeared into the hole.
Choi said she saw the ball go out of her sight standing on the 16th tee, and for a moment or two, she refused to believe the ball had dropped in.
“It was a perfect six-iron, and I got just the right amount of fade on the shot,” Choi said. “Mid-flight, I kind of had the sense that it was maybe going to go into the hole. And once I found out it had indeed dropped in, I got goose bumps all over my body.”
Thanks to the ace, Choi will take home BMW’s New X7 sports activity vehicle.
“I don’t have a car at the moment. Because I am retiring, I sold the car I had in the U.S., and I’d been thinking of getting a new one here in Korea,” Choi said, laughing. “I knew we’d have new cars up for grabs at a couple of par-three holes. The timing just worked out perfectly.”
The car is surely nice, but Choi said the hole-in-one meant much more to her than that.
“I think I was being rewarded for all the work I’ve done over the years,” Choi said. “As elated as I was in that moment, I also got emotional. I’ve been playing on this tour for a long time, and I went through some adversity toward the end. And I felt like I was getting a memorable parting gift here.”
She said the hole-in-one was “the happiest moment of my career,” a telling statement given that she has won an LPGA major and at one point was one of the very best in women’s golf.
“You always have to finish well to be remembered fondly by people, and I didn’t want to just fade away from people’s memory,” Choi said. “And I don’t think I got lucky to get the ace today. I hit a really good shot, and that means a lot to me. I hope people will remember that I had a hole-in-one in my last LPGA event.”
Choi said she wasn’t yet sure how she would feel after making her final putt on the 18th hole Sunday. She admitted she was so locked into the tournament Saturday that she didn’t even enjoy herself.
“After hitting one shot, I was already thinking about how I was going to hit the next shot. I wasn’t even thinking of trying to enjoy the walk down the fairway with other girls,” Choi said. “I don’t know if I am going to be this way again tomorrow, or if I will relax a bit more. But whenever I imagine myself at the last hole tomorrow, I get emotional.”
Source: Yonhap News Agency