Through two weeks of the 2015 season and the Race to the CME Globe, Na Yeon Choi has emulated two of the game’s top-ranked players to earn a share of first place in the season-long points competition. Choi and her fellow South Korean, Sei Young Kim, have won the first two tournaments and are in first place with 500 points each.
When she won the season-opening Coates Golf Championship in Ocala, Fla., Choi outdueled Lydia Ko, her friend and final-round playing partner and the 2014 CME Globe Champion.
“I like to compete with her,” Choi said. “She is 10 years younger than me, but I always watch her play and try to learn something because I know she’s a great player.”
Choi changed her putting grip and technique after watching the pure strokes of Ko and Inbee Park.
Also, she has changed her off-course habits to include daily workout routines, a place often frequented by Stacy Lewis, who led the 2014 Race to the CME Globe until the final week.
“When I won I went to the gym every day,” Choi said. “That was the first time during the tournament. Even Saturday and Friday (the final two rounds), my tee time was 12, so I went to the gym in the morning and did a little workout – Stacy Lewis is always there – so I just decide myself, I think physically stronger makes my swing better and my balance better.”
Choi has a goal to win three times this season – the magic number for being a Race to the CME Globe contender in 2014.
The Race to the CME Globe, in its second season, is a season-long points competition in which LPGA Members accumulate points in every Official LPGA Tournament. At the end of the season, the winning player will be named the “Race to the CME Globe Champion.” The competition began two weeks ago at the Coates Golf Championship, continues through the Lorena Ochoa Invitational Presented by Banamex in Mexico and concludes with a points reset for the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Florida the week before Thanksgiving.
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