Charlie Wi ( ko, 위창수; born 3 January 1972) is a South Korean

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

who plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He previously played on the

PGA PGA is an acronym or initialism that may stand for: Aviation * IATA code for Page Municipal Airport, Coconino County, Arizona * ICAO designator for Portugália, regional airline based in Lisbon, Portugal * Abbreviation for Prince George Airport ...

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

, and

Asian Tour The Asian Tour is the principal men's professional golf tour in Asia except for Japan, which has its own Japan Golf Tour, which is also a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours. Official money events on the tour count for Wor ...

s. He was a one-time winner on the European Tour, and a seven-time winner on the Asian Tour.

Early life and amateur career

Wi was born in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

, and moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, United States at the age of 10. He attended the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, after briefly attending the

University of Nevada, Reno The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a public land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant institution. It was founded on October 12, ...

and had a successful amateur career.

Professional career

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 The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

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 The Korn Ferry Tour is the developmental golf tour, tour for the U.S.-based PGA Tour, and features professional golfers who have either not yet reached the PGA Tour, or who have done so but then failed to win enough FedEx Cup points to stay at tha ...

, before returning to qualifying school where he regained his place on the PGA Tour for 2007. In February 2006, Wi secured the biggest win of his career, when he won the

Maybank Malaysian Open The Malaysian Open is a men's professional golf tournament currently played on the Asian Tour. Notable past winners include world number one golfers Vijay Singh and Lee Westwood (both players winning the event on two occasions). Other notable ...

, an event co-sanctioned by the European and Asian tours. 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 The Colonial National Invitation, titled for sponsorship reasons as the Charles Schwab Challenge since 2019, is a professional golf tournament in Texas on the PGA Tour, played annually in May in Fort Worth at Colonial Country Club, which organize ...

. 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. 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

in his career.

Swing style

Wi's golf swing style fits the model known as ''stack and tilt'', and he helped to choose this name.Mike Bennett and Andy Plummer with Peter Morrice, "The Stack and Tilt Swing. The definitive Guide to the Swing that is remaking Golf" (), page XIV He is coached since 2005 by Mike Bennett and Andy Plummer, who consider him the best example of their swing model: 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

*1990 California State Amateur *1995 Southern California Amateur

Professional wins (9)

European Tour wins (1)

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

Asian Tour wins (7)

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

Korean Tour The Korean Tour is a men's professional golf tour run by the Korea Professional Golfers' Association (KPGA) of South Korea. In 2011, it had total prize money of about US$14 million. Professional golf in Korea dates back to the mid 20th century. ...

²Co-sanctioned by the European Tour Asian Tour playoff record (1–0)

Korean Tour wins (5)

*2001

SK Telecom Open The SK Telecom Open is an annual professional golf tournament hosted in South Korea and sponsored by the Korean cell phone company SK Telecom. The tournament was inaugurated in June 1997 as "SK Telecom Classic", and renamed in 2001. It is part of ...

(co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour),

Shinhan Donghae Open The Shinhan Donghae Open is a men's professional golf tournament that has been held annually in South Korea since 1981. It has been an Asian Tour event since 2016. And it became the first event to be tri-sanctioned by the Asian Tour, Korean PGA and ...

(co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour) *2002

(co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour) *2004 Pocari Sweat Open *2005 GS Caltex Masters

Results in major championships

CUT = missed the half way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.
''Note: Wi never played in the

Masters Tournament The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply The Masters, or the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week of April, the Masters is the first maj ...

.''

Results in The Players Championship

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

Results in World Golf Championships

"T" = Tied

Team appearances

Professional *

Dynasty Cup Dynasty Cup was an East Asian international association football tournament. The tournament was held every 2 or 3 years. It was hosted by Beijing in 1990 and 1992, Hong Kong in 1995, Yokohama and Tokyo in 1998. In 2002 the East Asian Football F ...

(representing Asia): 2003 (winners) * World Cup (representing South Korea):

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Royal Trophy The Royal Trophy was a men's professional team golf tournament which was played between 2006 and 2013. The competing teams represented Europe and Asia. Eight man teams played a series of 16 matches involving foursomes, four-ball and singles for the ...

(representing Asia):

(winners),

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wi, Charlie South Korean male golfers Asian Tour golfers Japan Golf Tour golfers European Tour golfers PGA Tour golfers Golfers from Seoul Sportspeople from Los Angeles County, California People from North Hills, Los Angeles Sportspeople from Ventura County, California 1972 births Living people