| Na Yeon Choi 최나연 | |
| Birth Date: | 28 October 1987 |
| Birth Place: | Seoul, South Korea |
| Residence: | Orlando, Florida[1] |
| Yearpro: | 2004 |
| Tour: | LPGA Tour (joined 2008) |
| Extour: | KLPGA Tour (joined 2004) |
| Prowins: | 15 |
| Lpgawins: | 9 |
| Klpgawins: | 8 |
| Majorwins: | 1 |
| Nabisco: | T6: 2008 |
| Lpga: | 8th: 2009 |
| Wusopen: | Won: 2012 |
| Wbritopen: | T2: 2013 |
| Evian: | 5th: 2014 |
| Award1: | LPGA Vare Trophy |
| Year1: | 2010 |
| Award2: | LPGA Tour Money Winner |
| Year2: | 2010 |
| Hangul: | 최나연 |
| Hanja: | 崔蘿蓮 |
| Rr: | Choe Na Yeon |
| Mr: | Choi Na Yŏn |
Na Yeon Choi (Korean: 최나연; pronounced as /ko/; born 28 October 1987) is a South Korean professional golfer playing on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour. In July 2012, she won the U.S. Women's Open for her first major championship.[2]
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.
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 $1 million and finished 11th on the 2008 money list with nine top-10 finishes in 27 events played. She finished second in the LPGA Rookie of the Year race, just behind winner Yani Tseng.[3]
In 2009, Choi won twice on the LPGA Tour. In October she won the 20-player Samsung World Championship. Two weeks later she won the Hana Bank-KOLON Championship, an event co-sanctioned with the KLPGA.[4] Her third LPGA Tour win came in July 2010 at the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic at which she beat three other players on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff.[5] In 2010, Choi was both the LPGA Tour money leader and the leading scorer (Vare Trophy).[6]
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Major championships (1) | |
| Other LPGA Tour (8) |
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | To par | Margin of victory | Runner(s)-up | Earnings ($) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | So Yeon Ryu | 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 |
| 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 |
Results not in chronological order before 2019.
| Tournament | 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 |
| Tournament | Wins | 2nd | 3rd | Top-5 | Top-10 | Top-25 | Events | Cuts made | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 9 | ||
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 14 | 9 | ||
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 12 | 7 | ||
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | ||
| 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 9 | 7 | ||
| Totals | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 12 | 21 | 49 | 34 |
| 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 |
Professional