Choi Na-yeon

Na Yeon Choi (; ; born 28 October 1987) is a South Korean professional golfer who played on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour. In July 2012, she won the U.S. Women's Open for her first major championship.

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.

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. 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. In 2010, Choi was both the LPGA Tour money leader and the leading scorer (Vare Trophy).

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 Ryu So-yeon 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 by 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 by par on second hole. Feng eliminated by 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 2020 2021 2022 Chevron Championship 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 T54 CUT Women's PGA Championship T18 8 CUT T43 DQ T9 T25 T34 CUT CUT T71 CUT The Evian Championship ^ T44 5 WD NT Women's British Open T21 T8 T3 T7 T13 T2 CUT T61 CUT

^ The Evian Championship was added as a major in 2013.

CUT = missed the half-way cut DQ = disqualified NT = no tournament T = tied

Summary Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made Chevron Championship 0 0 0 0 2 4 11 9 U.S. Women's Open 1 1 0 2 3 6 14 9 Women's PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 2 4 12 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 49 34

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 2021 16 8 0 0 0 0 T17 68,025 126 72.44 121 2022 17 6 0 0 0 0 T18 51,427 146 72.95 145 official through 2022 season

Team appearances Professional Lexus Cup (representing Asia team): 2008 International Crown (representing South Korea): 2014