Every 1,000 years or so somebody emerges from Wando to put the small, proud seafood-farming island off the southwestern tip of South Korea on the map.

Jang Bogo, the legendary mariner and "Emperor of the Sea" of Korean drama fame, did it in the ninth century.

So, you could say it has been a long wait for the next one, K.J. Choi, and no small wonder the lengths the home folks will go to embrace the latest hero, the leader heading into today's final round of the Sony Open in Hawai'i.

Yesterday, that amounted to a 10-hour flight for 11 yellow-clad fans to go to breakfast and then get to Waialae Country Club in time to follow their "Emperor of the Tee," who is bidding for his seventh PGA Tour victory.

He didn't disappoint in the third round, shooting a 4-under-par 66 to put four shots between himself and Tim Wilkinson, the closest of the pursuers.

Many of those who showed up with his name on their shirts remember Choi as the focused, diesel-driven son of a rice and seaweed farmer determined to make a career in golf. That was some ambition given the fact he hadn't much more than a Jack Nicklaus instruction book, some videos and a dream to work with. At the time, the island of maybe 50,000 residents didn't have a golf course, just a 70-yard driving range.

Real golf courses and competitive tournaments were a six-hour roundtrip drive away on the mainland, a journey islanders would often take him on. The vision of a professional golfing career, much less one that would now have him rubbing shoulders with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson as the leading winners on the PGA Tour last year, was much more distant.

To gain his future wife's hand in marriage, Choi had to persuade Hyunjung's dubious parents that he could, indeed, support a family in this curious undertaking. A task in itself since no Korean had managed to win a PGA Tour card. Choi, in 2000, would be the first.

But dedication to his craft and persistence eventually won the day. "When they looked at my eyes, they saw that I had the passion, the urge to succeed," Choi said. "And I think once they read that in my eyes, that's when they approved."

When he won the Korean Open in 1996, the point was made. More than $17 million in PGA Tour earnings long since underlined it.

When Choi went home last year he was given a parade. In a prominent park in the center of town there is a life-size bronze statue of Choi, golf club in hand.

The only other statue in town belongs to Jang.

On Wando, history suggests heroes can be few and far between, so they'll take every opportunity to celebrate and cherish this one.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.