KJ Choi said ahead of Ballantine's Championship he is not content with being in the world's top 10 and a national hero in South Korea - he believes he should also be winning majors.

"Three years ago breaking into the top 10 would have been beyond my expectations," Choi said on the eve of the European Tour-sanctioned tournament.

"I have had two goals for a while. One was being in the top 10 and the other was to win a major. I have achieved one of them. I'm still chasing a first major victory.

"The fact that I finished third at the Masters [in 2004] gives me hope that I have a shot to win a major. I have improved a lot and worked out a lot of solutions in my game."

Choi will be among the favourites to win the $2.9 million tournament on South Korean island Jeju this week, the first European Tour event to be held in his native country.

Blustery conditions are likely to make low scoring difficult at the demanding Pinx Golf Club but Open champion Padraig Harrington has marked out Choi as the player to beat.

"I want to give the best performance I can for the Korean fans without putting too much pressure on myself," Choi said with a shrug of his broad shoulders.

"As long as the weather isn't too bad I expect to have a good week."

A former powerlifter, Choi warned that there was no point trying to beat Jeju's notoriously gusty conditions through brute force.

"If the wind is blowing hard and you decide to try to beat nature, bad things are going to happen," said the 37-year-old player.

"I just pray the weather holds for the next four days. A lot of good players from around the world flew a long distance to Korea for this tournament and I just want to be a good host."

Harrington, three-times major runner-up Chris DiMarco and Korean-American Anthony Kim will be among those hoping Choi fails to reproduce his recent hot form.

Choi won his seventh US Tour title at the Sony Open in Honolulu two months ago, joining Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh as the only players to win for a fourth year in a row.

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Reuters