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Charlie Wi

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Charlie Wi
위창수
Personal information
Full nameWi Chang-soo
Born (1972-01-03) 3 January 1972 (age 52)
Seoul, South Korea
Height5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight175 lb (79 kg; 12.5 st)
Sporting nationality South Korea
ResidenceNorth Hills, California, U.S.
Children2
Career
CollegeUniversity of California, Berkeley
Turned professional1995
Current tour(s)PGA Tour Champions
Former tour(s)PGA Tour
European Tour
Japan Golf Tour
Asian Tour
Web.com Tour
Korean Tour
Professional wins9
Highest ranking82 (26 April 2009)[1]
Number of wins by tour
European Tour1
Asian Tour7 (Tied-9th all-time)
Other5
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentDNP
PGA ChampionshipT9: 2008
U.S. OpenT29: 2012
The Open ChampionshipDNP

Wi Chang-soo (Korean: 위창수; born 3 January 1972), commonly known as Charlie Wi, is a South Korean professional golfer who currently plays on PGA Tour Champions. He previously played on the PGA Tour, European Tour, Asian Tour and the Korean Tour. He was a one-time winner on the European Tour and a seven-time winner on the Asian Tour.

Early life and amateur career

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Wi was born in Seoul, and moved to Los Angeles, United States at the age of 10.[2] He attended the University of California, Berkeley, after briefly attending the University of Nevada, Reno and had a successful amateur career.

Professional career

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Wi turned 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.[2]

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.[3]

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.[4]

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 April 2023, Wi finished second to Mark Hensby in the Invited Celebrity Classic on PGA Tour Champions in Irving, Texas. Wi qualified as an alternate into the tournament but ended up losing on the fourth hole of a sudden death playoff after hitting his ball in the water.[5]

Swing style

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Wi's golf swing style fits the model known as stack and tilt, and he helped to choose this name.[6] 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.[7]

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

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Professional wins (9)

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European Tour wins (1)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner-up
1 19 Feb 2006 Maybank Malaysian Open1 −19 (66-68-63=197)* 1 stroke Thailand Thongchai Jaidee

*Note: The 2006 Maybank Malaysian Open was shortened to 54 holes due to weather.
1Co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour

Asian Tour wins (7)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner(s)-up
1 21 Sep 1997 Mild Seven Kuala Lumpur Open −11 (67-73-69-68=277) 4 strokes Taiwan Lu Wen-teh, China Zhang Lianwei
2 20 May 2001 SK Telecom Open1 −7 (69-72-69-71=281) Playoff South Korea Kang Wook-soon, Scotland Simon Yates
3 23 Sep 2001 Shinhan Donghae Open1 −12 (66-70-70-70=276) 1 stroke India Vivek Bhandari, South Korea Yang Yong-eun
4 21 Oct 2001 Volvo China Open −16 (68-67-69-68=272) 1 stroke Thailand Thongchai Jaidee
5 28 Apr 2002 SK Telecom Open1 (2) −16 (67-69-67-69=272) 2 strokes Australia Kim Felton, United States Kevin Na
6 26 Sep 2004 Taiwan Open −4 (76-76-64-68=284) 3 strokes Australia Terry Pilkadaris
7 18 Feb 2006 Maybank Malaysian Open2 −19 (66-68-63=197)* 1 stroke Thailand Thongchai Jaidee

*Note: The 2006 Maybank Malaysian Open was shortened to 54 holes due to weather.
1Co-sanctioned by the Korean Tour
2Co-sanctioned by the European Tour

Asian Tour playoff record (1–0)

No. Year Tournament Opponents Result
1 2001 SK Telecom Open South Korea Kang Wook-soon, Scotland Simon Yates Won with birdie on seventh extra hole
Yates eliminated by birdie on fifth hole

Korean Tour wins (5)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner(s)-up
1 20 May 2001 SK Telecom Open1 −7 (69-72-69-71=281) Playoff South Korea Kang Wook-soon, Scotland Simon Yates
2 23 Sep 2001 Shinhan Donghae Open1 −12 (66-70-70-70=276) 1 stroke India Vivek Bhandari, South Korea Yang Yong-eun
3 28 Apr 2002 SK Telecom Open1 (2) −16 (67-69-67-69=272) 2 strokes Australia Kim Felton, United States Kevin Na
4 6 Jun 2004 Pocari Energy Open −11 (69-70-74-64=277) 3 strokes South Korea Choi Yoon-soo
5 23 Oct 2005 GS Caltex Masters −11 (67-73-71-66=277) 8 strokes South Korea Choi Gwang-soo

1Co-sanctioned by the Asian PGA Tour

Korean Tour playoff record (1–0)

No. Year Tournament Opponents Result
1 2001 SK Telecom Open South Korea Kang Wook-soon, Scotland Simon Yates Won with birdie on seventh extra hole
Yates eliminated by birdie on fifth hole

Playoff record

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PGA Tour Champions playoff record (0–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2023 Invited Celebrity Classic Australia Mark Hensby Lost to par on fourth extra hole

Results in major championships

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Tournament 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
U.S. Open CUT T29
The Open Championship
PGA Championship T9 T56 CUT CUT CUT
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.
Note: Wi never played in the Masters Tournament.

Results in The Players Championship

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Tournament 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
The Players Championship T63 CUT CUT T41 T25 T55 CUT

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

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Tournament 2002
Match Play
Championship
Invitational T63
  Did not play

"T" = Tied

Team appearances

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Professional

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Week 17 2009 Ending 26 Apr 2009" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  2. ^ a b Kroichick, Ron (6 February 2007). "Wi takes long road to PGA Tour". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 9 April 2009.
  3. ^ "Korean Wi claims Malaysian Open". BBC Sport. 19 February 2006. Retrieved 9 April 2009.
  4. ^ "Wi misses out at Colonial but takes positives from the experience". PGA Tour. 22 May 2011. Archived from the original on 27 May 2011. Retrieved 23 May 2011.
  5. ^ "Mark Hensby prevails in playoff for 1st PGA Tour Champions win". ESPN. Associated Press. 23 April 2023. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ 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)
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