Carnoustie, Scotland, July 19: Korean star Choi Kyung-ju underlined his intentions to become Asia’s first Major winner with a strong start at a cold and wet British Open on Thursday.

The Asian stalwart, known better as KJ, battled to a two-under-par 69 at Carnoustie to lie one shot behind early clubhouse leader Michael Campbell of New Zealand.

Choi enjoyed a flying start by going to four under through six holes played under rainy conditions but dropped out of the lead with two late bogeys on the 15th and 18th holes.

Still, the 36-year-old was delighted with his round. “It’s a very good start. It became a bit windy on the back nine and on the last four holes, there is a lot of pressure on the tee shots,” said Choi.

“Yesterday, I practised in the rain anticipating that there was going to be rain today. So when it rained this morning, I didn’t feel too concerned and I found my rhythm and had a good round.”

No Asian has won a major before, with Chinese Taipei’s Lu Liang-huan being the closest to do so at the British Open in 1971 at Royal Birkdale where he finished second behind American Lee Trevino.

With two recent wins on the US PGA Tour shooting him up to a career high 12th place on the world rankings, Choi, whose best finish in the majors was a third place outing in the 2004 US Masters, has been tipped by many to end the region’s lean spell.

“I don’t want to get too ahead of myself. If I start thinking there’s a chance, things could go wrong. I’ll take it hole by hole and stick to my routine. At the end of the week, who knows, there might be good news for me,” said Choi, who revealed earlier this week that his Christian faith has given him more patience on the golf course.

He also paid tribute to his veteran caddie Andy Prodger, who has tasted Major glory in the past with Nick Faldo. “We’ve enjoyed a lot of wins together now and he keeps me very comfortable and helps me to really focus during my round. He’s a good friend, like a big brother,” said Choi.

The Korean star, who cut his professional teeth on the Asian Tour in the 1990s before finding fame in the US, launched a six iron approach to 15 feet on the first hole to open his account in the 136th Open and showed his growing fondness for links golf with four more birdies against three bogeys on the card.

“Links golf fits my style of game as I hit a lot of fade shots. The course is very fair this year and I managed to make a few par saves by putting from off the green and the putts were going in today.”

He also revealed why he shortened his name to KJ. “In my first British Open in 1998, the starter announced me as Kyung-ju Choi, which was very difficult. It’s very long and people will ask who is that. So I made it simple to KJ Choi from Korea and it’s so easy now.”