German Masters: Gary Player must be rubbing his hands in gleeful anticipation after K J Choi's €500,000 victory in the German Masters at Gut Larchenhof yesterday.
The rice farmer's son, whose initials stand for Kyoung-Ju, is the third member of Player's Rest of the World side, who will face the US in the Presidents Cup in November, to emerge victorious in as many weeks.
Choi (33) nicknamed "the Tank" because of his build (5ft 8in and 13st 3lb), follows Ernie Els (European Masters) and Retief Goosen (Lancome Trophy) on to the winners' rostrum.
A 67 left him 26 under par on 262, two ahead of Spain's Miguel Jimenez (68), with Britain's Ian Poulter (68) joint third with the Swede Niclas Fasth (65).
Darren Clarke's bid for a third victory came up short after a final round of 67 left him eight shot behind Choi. Paul McGinley continued his good from with a closing six under par 66 for a total of 14 under par 274.
Graeme McDowell, however, will be disappointed with his 75 final round for 284.
Choi may be relatively unknown in Europe but not in the US. He won tour events in New Orleans and Tampa Bay last year and was runner-up after a record 62 to Els in this year's Mercedes Championship in Hawaii.
He tends to do things in spectacular style, holing from a bunker for an eagle three on Saturday, then pitching in from 168 yards with a six-iron for an eagle two at the fifth yesterday.
That was crucial after a slow start which saw Poulter, chasing a third 2003 success after wins in the Wales Open and Nordic Open, catch him with a brace of opening birdies.
After a two at the eighth Poulter was still tied for the lead but he came to grief at the next when his second trickled into the lake and he had a double-bogey six.
The Luton man came straight back with birdies at the 10th and 11th and was level again when Choi bogeyed the 12th.
But the South Korean had another eagle at the long 13th with a second shot to 12 feet to come home in 33.
Choi praised his caddie Andy Prodger, discarded by Colin Montgomerie in June and allowed to pull the clubs on a trolley after a fall from a ladder.
Poulter earned €171,000 but, by not winning, lost out on a place in England's two-man World Cup team in Kiawah Island in November.
Lee Westwood was equal 13th, nine behind Choi, after a 63 and collected a gold bar worth €11,000 for his hole-in-one with a four-iron at the 226-yard eighth.
"I thought about a 59 after the birdie on the 10th but of course I'd already had one if you add my 29 out today to my 30 home on Friday," he joked.
Guardian Service
(Irish in bold, Brit unless stated, Par 72)
262 - KJ Choi (Kor) 63 68 64 67 (€500,000) 264 - Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 67 62 67 68 (€337,000) 265 - Niclas Fasth (Swe) 68 67 65 65, Ian Poulter 65 63 69 68 (€171,000) 268 - Anders Hansen (Den) 69 62 72 65, Darren Clarke 65 71 65 67, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 65 65 67 71 (€108,000 each) 269 - Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 68 69 68 64, David Howell 66 69 69 65, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 69 67 66 67, Jarrod Moseley (Aus) 68 65 67 69 270 - Gary Orr 65 66 70 69 271 - Lee Westwood 71 67 70 63, Alex Cejka (Ger) 70 69 67 65, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 72 65 68 66 272 - Justin Rose 69 66 70 67, Adam Scott (Aus) 66 69 67 70, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 68 67 66 71 274 - Nick O'Hern (Aus) 67 70 72 65, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 66 70 72 66, Paul McGinley 67 72 69 66, Raymond Russell 68 71 69 66, Thomas Levet (Fra) 70 68 68 68, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 71 67 68 68, Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 72 68 64 70, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 60 71 70 73, Mark McNulty (Zim) 68 67 66 73, Paul Casey 65 67 67 75 275 - Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 69 67 70 69, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 67 69 69 70, Miles Tunnicliff 67 63 71 74 276 - Eduardo Romero (Arg) 69 69 74 64, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 69 67 72 68, Bradley Dredge 67 69 69 71, David Park 67 70 68 71, Ian Garbutt 69 70 66 71 277 - David Lynn 74 65 71 67, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 69 68 70 70, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 72 66 69 70, Stephen Dodd 68 69 69 71 278 - Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 71 69 70 68, Paul Lawrie 69 67 72 70 279 - Jonathan Lomas 69 71 71 68, Philip Golding 71 69 70 69, Charlie Wi (Kor) 69 71 70 69, Marcel Siem (Ger) 71 66 70 72, Brett Rumford (Aus) 66 72 68 73, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 69 69 68 73, Ian Woosnam 67 67 71 74 280 - Brian Davis 71 69 71 69, Simon Dyson 70 67 73 70, Martin Maritz (Rsa) 73 66 71 70, Peter Fowler (Aus) 69 67 73 71, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 68 68 72 72, Anthony Wall 67 70 71 72, David Gilford 66 71 69 74, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 72 66 67 75 281 - Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa) 72 68 72 69, Santiago Luna (Spa) 72 66 71 72, John Bickerton 67 68 72 74 282 Greg Owen 72 68 75 67, Sandy Lyle 67 72 73 70 283 - Jamie Spence 68 70 74 71 284 - Peter Hedblom (Swe) 68 65 80 71, Graeme McDowell 70 70 69 75 285 - Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 71 67 77 70 286 - Barry Lane 70 70 78 68, Andrew Oldcorn 69 69 75 73, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 72 68 73 73, Richard Porter (Ger) 70 70 73 73 287 - Tobias Dier (Ger) 71 68 75 73 291 - Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 69 71 78 73.
