Charlie Wi

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Charlie Wi
— Golfer —
Personal information
Full name Charlie Wi
Born (1972-01-03) 3 January 1972
Seoul, South Korea
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight 175 lb (79 kg; 12.5 st)
Nationality  South Korea
Residence North Hills, California, U.S.
Career
College University of California, Berkeley
Turned professional 1995
Current tour(s) PGA Tour
Former tour(s) European Tour
Japan Golf Tour
Asian Tour
Professional wins 7
Number of wins by tour
European Tour 1
Asian Tour 7 (tied 5th all time)
Best results in Major Championships
Masters Tournament DNP
U.S. Open T29: 2012
The Open Championship DNP
PGA Championship T9: 2008

Charlie Wi (born 3 January 1972) is a South Korean professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. He has also previously played on both the European and Asian Tours.

Wi was born in Seoul, and moved to Los Angeles, United States at the age of 10.[1] He attended the University of California, Berkeley, after briefly attending the University of Nevada, Reno and had a successful amateur career before turning professional in 1995.

Early in his career, Wi played all over the world, competing on the European, Asian and Japanese tours. He had most success on the Asian Tour where he finished second on the money list in 2001, just behind Thongchai Jaidee, having won three times during the season.

Wi earned his place on the PGA Tour for 2005 when he successfully negotiated all three stages of the 2004 qualifying school. However, he did not do well enough in his rookie season to retain his card, and went back to play on the Asian Tour in 2006, finishing 4th on the money list. He also competed on the second tier Nationwide Tour, before returning to qualifying school where he regained his place on the PGA Tour for 2007.[1]

In February 2006, Wi secured the biggest win of his career, when he won the Maybank Malaysian Open, an event co-sanctioned by the European and Asian tours.[2]

In May 2011, Wi finished runner-up at a PGA Tour event for the fourth time in his career losing to David Toms at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. Wi was seven strokes behind Toms at the halfway stage, but shot a 66 during the third round to take a one stroke lead into the final round. Wi held his lead until midway through the final round when Toms holed out from the fairway for an eagle and would eventually go on to lose by one stroke.[3]

Wi finished as runner-up in February 2012 at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am after taking a three stroke 54 hole lead into the final round. He shot a final round 72 to finish at 15 under, but lost out by two strokes as Phil Mickelson came from six back to claim the title with an 8 under par round of 64. This marked the fifth occasion on which Wi had recorded a second place finish on the PGA Tour in his career.In March 2012 his second round finished 68 tied with Tiger Woods.

Swing style

Wi's golf swing style fits the model known as stack and tilt, and he helped to choose this name.[4] He is coached since 2005 by Mike Bennett and Andy Plummer, who consider him the best example of their swing model:

Today Charlie is thought of by many players as one of the best ball-strikers on tour, and he exhibits the moves we teach better than any other player. If you want to know what Stack & Tilt should look like, watch Charlie Wi.[5]

Wi does not transfer body weight to the trail leg on back swing but moves the weight forward during the whole swing, even with the driver. He performs a steep shoulder turn around a steady axis.

Amateur wins (2)

  • 1990 California State Amateur
  • 1995 Southern California Amateur

Professional wins (7)

European Tour wins (1)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of victory Runner(s)-up
1 19 Feb 2006 Maybank Malaysian Open −19 (66-68-63=197) 1 stroke Thailand Thongchai Jaidee

Asian Tour wins (7)

Results in major championships

Tournament 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Masters Tournament DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
U.S. Open DNP CUT DNP DNP T29
The Open Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
PGA Championship T9 T56 CUT CUT CUT

DNP = did not play
CUT = missed the half way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.
Yellow background for top-10.

Team appearances

Professional

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Kroichick, Ron (6 February 2007). "Wi takes long road to PGA Tour". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 9 April 2009. 
  2. ↑ "Korean Wi claims Malaysian Open". BBC Sport. 19 February 2006. Retrieved 9 April 2009. 
  3. ↑ "Wi misses out at Colonial but takes positives from the experience". PGA Tour. 22 May 2011. Retrieved 23 May 2011. 
  4. ↑ Mike Bennett and Andy Plummer with Peter Morrice, "The Stack and Tilt Swing. The definitive Guide to the Swing that is remaking Golf" (ISBN 978-1-592-40447-6), page XIV
  5. ↑ Mike Bennett and Andy Plummer with Peter Morrice, "The Stack and Tilt Swing. The definitive Guide to the Swing that is remaking Golf" (ISBN 978-1-592-40447-6)

External links

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