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 K.J. Choi at the U.S. Open on Thursday in Bethesda, Maryland.
June 17th, 2011
01:40 PM ET
K.J. Choi is a golf god who gives backBy Kim Segal, CNN Golf is how K.J. Choi makes his money. Donations are how he likes to spend a lot of it. "I believe in sharing," says Choi, a pro golfer from South Korea who gave away over $300,000 that he earned on this year's PGA Tour. "A lot of people make money but we all live in a society where we need to share." He has pledged $200,000 of the $1.71 million that he won at last month's Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida to victims of the deadly tornadoes that recently struck the American South. "When I see people suffering, that hurts me a lot, too," Choi, who is playing in the U.S. Open this week, said in a telephone interview. Sports Illustrated senior writer Damon Hack said that news of Choi's tornado donation didn't surprise him. "That's just kind of the person that he's been," Hack said. "He seems to kind of have that good world view to know that there are a lot of things going on bigger than the sport." Considered Asia's most successful golfer, Choi has also started his own charity to support underprivileged children, the K.J. Choi Foundation. The 8-time PGA Tour champion says his donation to the tornado victims was a kind of thank you to the country that gave him the opportunity to succeed. Choi lives in Texas but frequently visits his homeland. As a member of the U.S.-based PGA tour, he has played against the best golfers in the world, competing for some of the sport's largest first-place prizes. He's known around the clubhouse for showing his appreciation. "He thanks everybody. He thanks the golf course superintendent, the tournament host but he also thanks God," says Hack. "He's not afraid to talk about his beliefs." Choi has a reputation for being a devout Christian. He and his family are members of the Dallas Korean United Methodist Church in Texas. "The Lord has been good to me and he has provided a lot for me so this is my way to return of all the things that he has given to me," he says. "Golf is not an easy game. It takes a lot of hard work and training and there are times when it is hard on me, too," he says. "But when I seem to be facing a brick wall that's when I turn to the Lord because I know he's watching over me." |
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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DID HIS GOD TELL HIM IT OKAY TO HAVE SKINNY ARMS LIKE A HOT CHIC. HOW COME HE NEVER MENTION GOD WHEN HE LOSE. WHAT A WASTE OF LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ungrateful troll.
Mr. Choi should protest CNN for calling him a "golf god." Stupid secular Americans becoming worse pagan each passing day...
You have somehow taken the kindness of a sports figure that probably most of these people responding have never heard of. What kJ does charity wise is a wonderful thing, yet you have turned it into a political issue. I can't imagine why anyone would play devils advocate to Mr. Choi's well meant donation.
The subject of the article started off as some golfer is sharing his good fortune with various less fortunate. Many of the bloggers really increased the thought behind this good deed to stupid, of subject comments
I think this is one of those rare, feel-good stories in a long time. No matter what one's nationality, ethnicity, or faith might be, I would imagine most people would agree what KJ Choi has been doing is commendable. If more professional athletes and other celebrities followed Choi's example, I think the world would be a much more pleasant place to live in. It is amazing how people would go off on all sorts of tangents and start heated debates. Folks (eg. Reality), this is an article about a guy who is trying to give back to the community. Why can't we just accept it as it is and cut out all the political and religious crap?
uh.. to the moron who said Choi is a U.S. citizen, you should know what you are talking about before you write on a blog...just spewing things that aren't true shows everyone how stupid you are. He lives in Woodland Texas, but he is a South Korean citizen, he just stays in Texas to be closer to most of the PGA events that he will compete in..
"Golf is a good walk spoiled." – Mark Twain
Take your mind-polluting god stories and your toxic over-fertilized, earth-polluting golf courses, and shove them.
Go cry somewhere else
Sam, go f-ck yourself. Oh wait, you're already mastu-rbating.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGSvqMBj-ig&w=640&h=360]
..
http://www.wpray4u.com
In this world where you cannot pick up a newspaper without seeing some high-profile, mega millionaire athelete behaving badly, it is refreshing to see an article on an athelete who is actually humble and concerned for others. I wish the media will focus more on the likes of Mr. Choi and less on those whose egoes are larger than their bank accounts.
There are a lot of Christians like Mr. Choi in S. Korea AND in N. Korea. CNN should not call him a "golf god." Secular Westerners say thanks to the air for food and then call anyone good at anything "god" of that field? You call many things gods but never honor true God as God. No wonder truth is not in you.
Dont be a debbie downer and ruin a good moment! He did a good thing!
you can call anything god. as a matter of fact i am a god. sure i am not the God with capital. anyhow i am glad to hear the good deeds of mr, Choi. hope he stays in that path
Are you serious, Zelda??? You even have to come to a purely-positive article like this to spread your religious 'superiority'?!? Get off your high horse already.... my god! (<– that last one was for you)
You give a bad name to one of my favorite childhood namesakes. For that, you deserve nothing short of scorn. So, for you, my dear "zelda", are the names of a few gods among men, yep, polytheism for you!
Richard Feynman- Physics god.
Carl Saga- Astronomy god.
Brian May- Guitar god and astrophysicist. (Lead guitarist of Queen)
Eric Clapton – God, just god.
Stephan Gould- Biology god.
Michael Jordan- Basketball god.
Roger Federer- Tennis Ying God.
Raphael Nadal – Tennis Yang God.
George Carlin- Comedy god.
By the way, a good number of them are atheist too. Hope I don't trigger whatever aneurysm caused your delusional religious beliefs to take such firm hold, I may be mischievous, but I don't wish death upon you. Even if you pretend to know and speak 'truth'. Cause that's not at all arrogant to claim to hold knowledge of epistemological truths, right?
@Andrew: You forgot Shigeru Miyamoto: Nintendo God!
Here is the whole swing of mad atheists. The Bible says you made your own greed your "god" and you'll go where it deserves. Repent your stupidity, now.
Too bad he didn't make the cut at the Open this week. But i'm sure he'll have a wonderful father's day at home with his family. Go YE Yang!
I will never forget the random act of kindness from KJ Choi when, during his final round at the US Open, Bethpage on Fathers day he walked along the path from the 14 green to 15 tee where my 5 year old son, perched on my shoulders, were standing. He walked directly to us, reached up and gave my son the ball he had just played and shook his hand. It made my day and my sons year.
KJ is the real deal, a class guy like Phil.
There are more important things in the real world than swatting little balls. Thanks for you examplary donations Mr. Choi, God bless you and this whole planet!
reality, you are a fool.
another troll. can't you just be happy for them? misery loves company i guess.
Choi should donate his money to the USA federal government to honor all the USA servicemen who died keeping South Korea free and to the USA taxpayers who keep South Korea free today.
Gifts to the United States
U.S. Department of the Treasury
Credit Accounting Branch
3700 East-West Highway, Room 622D
Hyattsville, MD 20782
To wit:
May 26, 2011, "WASHINGTON (AFP) – A US government report warned Wednesday that the Pentagon was likely underestimating billions of dollars in costs for a controversial restructuring of bases in South Korea and Ja-pan.
The Government Accountability Office, a non-partisan investigative arm of Congress, pointed in particular to the costs from a plan to allow more US troops in South Korea to bring their families.
The Pentagon "is transforming the facilities and infrastructure that support its posture in Asia without the benefit of comprehensive cost information or an analysis of alternatives," the report said.
The study said that the Pentagon anticipated $17.6 billion through 2020 for its plan in South Korea, which includes leaving the Yongsan base in the heart of Seoul where troops have often had friction with residents.
But the report called the estimate incomplete, saying that the plans to allow families and to extend the length of troops' tours would cost $5 billion by 2020 and $22 billion by 2050."
The USA taxpayers including myself are $14 trillion dollars in debt. It is time for countries like South Korea and Ja-pan to pay for their own defense.
You know that K.J. is a US citizen right? That means...dun dun..he pays taxes just like you. Chances are he pays lots more taxes than you do in addition to the money he donates as well. So he donates lots of money and pays a lot of taxes; you just troll stories and complain. I'm going to go so far as to say K.J. is a better American than you.
You do know South Korea sent tens of thousands of combat troops to Vietnam where thousands died on the front lines, eh? A war they had absolutely nothing to do with. They also sent the 3rd most troops to Iraq as well, and have bought billions of US arms and weapons without even considering other countries.
Seriously if you're going to whine and cry, at least get your facts straight.
I also pass ROK soldier every day over here in Afghanistan. Apparently they're part of this war too.
When you get a job and move out of your mother's basement, then you'll have some money of your own to decide how to donate. Until then, nobody, and I mean NOBODY, gives two cents about what you think anyone else should do with their money.
Reality: Wow, you are so ignorant and now I know why US statistically had a tremendously low IQ average in comparison world wide; this is because of people like you who are bitter about doing nothing, and want to get paid for doing nothing for themselves and the people around. Have you ever donated time and or money to any cause? I highly doubt it. Please stop showing the world how inept you are, and shut your mouth.
Great article about a great person. Misplaced comment by someone who should grind his axe elsewhere.
I do appreciate the servicemen that sacrificed their lives in that war. But don't think for a moment that the US entered the war to save Korean lives (1M+ civilian casualties) or to spread the democratic ideal. That peninsula is/was a strategic military position against the then communist Russia, and still remains as a guard against China and the Asia region today. I laugh when people think the US takes any kind of military actions for the purpose of maintaining "freedom" in a region. You don't see us spending lives and money in Africa, do you? Not only do you need to move out of your mother's basement, you also need to get your head out of your a**.
So, Reality.
What have YOU done for your community, your country, and mankind?
hey, us troops can exit Korea and we'll have no problem.
its in the Usa's best interest to stay in.
so dont ask when you are doing it for its own benefit
Considering the fact the USA military has misplaced over 2 billion dollars of funds given to Iraq over the past six years, why would you think giving the USA military any more money would be a good idea?
Korea would love for the USA to leave tomorrow. Don't kid yourself. The USA are being kicked out of their basis in downtown Seoul at this very moment and moved outside the city.
Hmmm, lot of negative commentary but not one suggestion on how we can eliminate the $14 trillion debt of the USA taxpayers (btw, I have paid $600,000 in federal taxes during my working years). Having South Korea and Ja-pan either pay us for protecting them or get out is my suggestion thereby saving a minimum of $22 billion.
Some other suggestions- end lobbying and have companies that spend on lobbying pay this as a tax to reduce the national debt?
The largest of the lobbyists:(note the large sums of money being spent by health "profiteers" on lobbying )
Lobbying Client Total 1998-2009
US Chamber of Commerce $606,758,180
American Medical Assn $220,832,500
General Electric $196,410,000
AARP $175,702,064
American Hospital Assn $174,890,431
Pharmaceutical Rsrch & Mfrs of America $173,403,920
AT&T Inc $150,471,757
Northrop Grumman $143,005,253
Exxon Mobil $138,886,942
National Assn of Realtors $138,417,380
Blue Cross/Blue Shield $136,317,077
Business Roundtable $134,030,000
Edison Electric Inst-itute $133,995,999
Verizon Communications $132,534,841
Lockheed Martin $122,340,423
Boeing Co $121,528,310
General Motors $106,914,483
Southern Co $104,620,694
Freddie Mac $96,194,048
Altria Group $93,650,000
And having "non-profits" pay federal taxes on their huge holdings in land and securities would be another way to reduce our $14 trillion debt.
e.g. the ACLU has ~$250 million in securities that they do not pay taxes on. (www.guidestar.com)
t and Tommy have no idea what real Koreans think. Pick up any normal daily newspaper in Korea that is not communist related, and they are all grateful of the US presence. All normal Koreans now what a great country the U.S. is, and are thankful for the sacrifices. Sure there are some nutjobs who want the U.S. out, but most of them are communists or crazy college kids who later grow up and change their minds.
u sir are an idiot
@ Reality
•Afghanistan will cost nearly $105 billion in the 2010 fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, including most of $33 billion in additional spending requested by Obama and pending before Congress.
Iraq will cost about $66 billion. In fiscal 2011, Afghanistan is projected to cost $117 billion, Iraq $46 billion. To date, Pentagon spending in Iraq has reached $620 billion, compared with $190 billion in Afghanistan.
Yet, here you are complaining about a mear $15-22 Billion expenses in the strategic location in Asia.
You are full of it.
@ Reality
You want solutions?
How about pulling out of Iraq Afghanistan?
Cut the over blown fraud waste and abuse system call the military industrial complex and the DOD as a whole.
Cut Social Security dependence for wealthy individuals and transfer that to the poor.
Take $1000 from every new citizens born in this country and invest it in a federally sponsored investment fund. By the time they retire, that money will have grown to an enormous amount able to function as a safe retirement fund or a cushion.
Make it illegal for political contributions to parties and cut the corporate lobbying groups powers.
You do know that SK pays hundreds of millions of dollars to the US as part of an agreement. Donald Trump was caught red-handed lying about this and I'm guessing thats where your misguided belief came from. Do some research.
Our War on Terror and Aggression:
An update (or how we are spending or how we have spent the USA taxpayers’ money to eliminate global terror and aggression)
The terror and aggression via a Partial and Recent Body Count :
(as the koranic/mosque driven acts of terror and horror continue:)
The Muslim Conquest of India – 11th to 18th century
■"The likely death toll is somewhere between 2 million and 80 million. The geometric mean of those two limits is 12.7 million. "
and the 19 million killed in the Mideast Slave Trade 7C-19C by Muslims.
and more recently
1a) 179 killed in Mumbai/Bombay, 290 injured
1b) Assassination of Benazir Bhutto and Theo Van Gogh
2) 9/11, 3000 mostly US citizens, 1000’s injured
3) The 24/7 Sunni-Shiite centuries-old blood feud currently being carried out in Iraq, US troops killed in action, 3,483 and 925 in non combat roles. 99,901 – 109,143 Iraqi civilians killed as of 3/3/2011/, mostly due to suicide bombers, http://www.iraqbodycount.org/ and http://www.defenselink.mil/news/casualty.pdf
4) Kenya- In Nairobi, about 212 people were killed and an estimated 4000 injured; in Dar es Salaam, the attack killed at least 11 and wounded 85.[2]
5) Bali-in 2002-killing 202 people, 164 of whom were foreign nationals, and 38 Indonesian citizens. A further 209 people were injured.
6) Bali in 2005- Twenty people were killed, and 129 people were injured by three bombers who killed themselves in the attacks.
7) Spain in 2004- killing 191 people and wounding 2,050.
8. UK in 2005- The bombings killed 52 commuters and the four radical Islamic suicide bombers, injured 700.
9) The execution of an eloping couple in Afghanistan on 04/15/2009 by the Taliban.
10) – Afghanistan: US troops 1,141 killed in action, 242 killed in non-combat situations as of 03/03/2011. Over 40,000 Afghan civilians killed due to the dark-age, koranic-driven Taliban acts of horror
11) The killing of 13 citizen soldiers at Ft. Hood by a follower of the koran.
12) 38 Russian citizens killed on March 29, 2010 by Muslim women suicide bombers.
13) The May 28, 2010 attack on a Islamic religious minority in Pakistan, which have left 98 dead,
14) Lockerbie is known internationally as the site where, on 21 December 1988, the wreckage of Pan Am Flight 103 crashed as a result of a terrorist bomb. In the United Kingdom the event is referred to as the Lockerbie disaster, the Lockerbie bombing, or simply Lockerbie. Eleven townspeople were killed in Sherwood Crescent, where the plane's wings and fuel tanks plummeted in a fiery explosion, destroying several houses and leaving a huge crater, with debris causing damage to a number of buildings nearby. The 270 fatalities (259 on the plane, 11 in Lockerbie) were citizens of 21 nations.
15 The daily suicide and/or roadside and/or mosque bombings in the terror world of Islam.
16) Bombs sent from Yemen by followers of the koran which fortunately were discovered before the bombs were detonated.
17) The killing of 58 Christians in a Catholic church in one of the latest acts of horror and terror in Iraq.
18) Moscow airport suicide bombing: 35 dead, 130 injured. January 25, 2011.
19) A Pakistani minister, who had said he was getting death threats because of his stance against the country's controversial blasphemy law, was shot and killed Wednesday, 3/2/2011
20) two American troops killed in Germany by a recently radicalized Muslim, 3/3/2011
21) the kidnapping and apparent killing of a follower of Zoraster in the dark world of Islamic Pakistan.
22) Shariatpur, Bangladesh (CNN 3/30/2011) - Hena Akhter's last words to her mother proclaimed her innocence. But it was too late to save the 14-year-old girl. Her fellow villagers in Bangladesh's Shariatpur district had already passed harsh judgment on her. Guilty, they said, of having an affair with a married man. The imam from the local mosque ordered the fatwa, or religious ruling, and the punishment: 101 lashes delivered swiftly, deliberately in public. Hena dropped after 70 and died a week later.
Other elements of our War on Terror and Aggression:
-Operation Iraqi Freedom- The 24/7 Sunni-Shiite centuries-old blood feud currently being carried out in Iraq, US Troops killed in action, 3,481 and 924 died in non-combat, 99,901 – 109,143 Iraqi civilians killed as of 3/3/2011/, mostly due to suicide bombers, http://www.iraqbodycount.org/ and http://www.defenselink.mil/news/casualty.pdf
– Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan: US troops 1,141 killed in action, 242 killed in non-combat situations as of 03/03/2011. Over 40,000 Afghan civilians killed due to the dark-age, koranic-driven Taliban acts of horror,
– Sa-dd-am, his sons and major he-nchmen have been deleted. Sa-dd-am's bravado about WMD was one of his major mistakes. Kuwait was saved.
– Iran is being been contained. (beside containing the Sunni-Shiite civil war in Baghdad, that is the main reason we are in Iraq. And yes, essential oil continues to flow from the region.)
– North Korea is still u-ncivil but is contained.
– Northern Ireland is finally at peace.
– The Jews and Palestinians are being separated by walls. Hopefully the walls will follow the 1948 UN accords. Unfortunately the Annapolis Peace Conference was not successful. And unfortunately the recent events in Gaza has put this situation back to “squ-are one”. And this significant stupidity is driven by the mythical foundations of both religions!!!
– – Fa-na–tical Islam has basically been contained to the Middle East but a wall between India and Pakistan would be a plus for world peace. Ditto for a wall between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
– Timothy McVeigh was exe-cuted. Terry Nichols will follow soon.
– Eric Ru-dolph is spending three life terms in pri-son with no par-ole.
– Jim Jones, David Koresh, Kaczynski, the "nuns" from Rwanda, and the KKK were all dealt with and either eliminated themselves or are being punished.
– Islamic Sudan, Dar-fur and So-malia are still terror hot spots.
– The terror and tor-ture of Muslims in Bosnia, Kosovo and Kuwait were ended by the proper application of the military forces of the USA and her freedom-loving friends. Ra-dovan Karadzic was finally captured on 7/23/08 and is charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the law of war – charges related to the 1992-1995 civil war that followed Bosnia-Herzegovina's secession from Yugoslavia.
-The capture of Ratko Mladić: (Serbian Cyrillic: Ратко Младић, pronounced [râtkɔ mlǎːditɕ], born 12 March 1943[1][2]) is an accused war criminal and a former Bosnian Serb military leader. On May 31, 2011, Mladić was extradited to The Hague, where he was processed at the detention center that holds suspects for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).[3] His trial began on 3 June 2011.
– the bloody terror brought about by the Ja-panese, Na-zis and Co-mmunists was with great difficulty eliminated by the good guys.
– Bin Laden was executed for crimes against humanity on May 1, 2011
Simply thank you, Mr. Choi. Keep good things up in America and S. Korea.
not often you see a real Christian trying to live up to what the Bible actually teaches. good for him!
It is so true. You never see Christians living up to the what the bible teaches. Maybe he will stone his kids later for being disrespectful, or stone his wife for cooking on the sabbath, maybe he will be able to stone his daughter for eating shellfish or pork, while leaving home during her period.
The last thing we need is for people to do anything written in the bible (especially the old testament). Imagine if the only reason you were good is that you had read some sadistic stories in a book? Or that you were being good only because you were afraid of punishment. I would hope people are good because they are moral and care about other humans, not because they are afraid of a supernatural being is watching them and will punish them if they were bad. How sad would that be?
@T, great post. And maybe it's a good thing that most Christians don't know their book of evil very well.
Wow, you have no idea how Koreans think and yet you speak as if you know them. The downtown bases are being cleared because downtown isn't an ideal area for soldiers to be in. The average Korean wants the U.S to stay.
Please do some fact checking, seriously.
@T sorry you haven't yet grasped the fundamental concept of not only KNOWING something but also UNDERSTANDING it. You may have been able to read a few of the words, but you certainly have not understood them.
You know not what you comment on. Golf is timing. Golf is extreme precision. Golf is confidence. Golf is strategy. Golf is the elements. Golf is time and space. Golf is an opportunity. Golf is life. Golf is the only sport that challenges you a different way everytime you play. Golf is a gift. When you have achieved the gifts at a professional level you, I imagine, find it very easy to show thanks for that.
Golf is an awful game, particularly when the participants don't even walk between holes. The over-fertilization of the greens results in toxic runoff and the courses themselves destroy much more natural habitat for the user density, compared with other sports.
Ban golf and ban golf course construction. Boycott golf.
"Golf is a good walk spoiled" -Mark Twain
Gozer is an idiot.
No, JoeBob, gozer is much, much, much smarter than you are.
JoeBob's mother is his sister. He's named after his grandmother who is also his cousin.
Golf is an awful game, particularly when the participants don't even walk between holes. The over-fertilization of the greens results in toxic runoff and the courses themselves destroy much more natural habitat for the user density, compared with other sports.
Ban golf and ban golf course construction. Boycott golf.
"Golf is a good walk spoiled" -Mark Twain
obviously you have not played golf! golf is a highly compet itive athletic endeavour, 3 hours of intense cardiovascular exercise, you need a strong back too. how many one handed men or one legged women do you see playing golf? see. you have to be ultra fit to play golf. thats why most club players use buggies. they are not in the physical condition to play compet itive golf. duh.
Haha. I play golf. 3 hours of intense cardiovascular exercise. HILARIOUS. Lets just say your standards for "intense" are a bit on the low side. And "ultra-fit" LMAO again. Half the players on the tour have beer bellies.