Made his European Tour breakthrough in winning the 2006 Maybank Malaysian Open to deny Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee a hat-trick of victories and become only the second Korean to win on The European Tour after K J Choi. Success continued when he secured a US PGA Tour card through the Qualifying School at the end of the season. Noted by fellow competitors as a serious student of the game who was introduced to golf by his father as a child. Since then he has taken that knowledge and expertise of golf, and combined it with his athletic ability and the flexibility he obtained after years of studying the martial arts. Also an expert skier and he translated that ability into earning money during college by working as a ski instructor. Hailed as one of the finest golfers to come out of the University of California at Berkeley, attaining First Team All American Honours in 1995. He had the third lowest stroke average, with only Tiger Woods and Stewart Cink finishing ahead of him in 1995.