By STEVE ELLING

Even for the devout golf fan, whose preferred place of worship takes place Sunday morning on the humblest of local munis, the feverish pitch of the sermons makes the eyes glaze over and the ears sore.

The fervent infomercial fare on the Golf Channel can be downright numbing, fronted by golf's pulpit-pounding televangelists, most of them pitching fast redemption in the form some quirky, questionable novelty. They offer miracle putters, drivers shaped like sledgehammers, laser-guided grips, shank-proof wedges without hosels, not to mention assorted swing aids that look like medieval iron maidens.

Even preaching to the choir, it can get tiresome and stale.

Yet K.J. Choi is here to offer his testimony to the true believers, because some of that junk actually works. He found his short-game salvation on TV and is here to offer an emphatic, large after-the-fact amen as proof.

How big? How's $10 million in the collection plate sound?

Armed with his TV toy, the stocky South Korean star shot a 5-under 66 Friday to assume a two-stroke lead at 12 under in the first leg of the FedEx Cup series, The Barclays at Westchester Country Club.

He did it while wielding an oversized putting grip that looks like the rubber handle of a baseball bat, a device he spotted in an infomercial and was initially ashamed to use in broad daylight for fear of what his peers might say.

"I putted in the closet with it for 1-1/2 years." Choi craced through his interpreter.

Never considered a particularly good putter, he hauled it out publicly at midsummer and immediately won the AT&T National at Congressional Country Club, beating a stellar field that included Tiger Woods.

"In the past, every time I finish my round, there was something about my game, my putting - I felt like there was something that was always missing." he said.

Yeah, his putts.

So like the rest of us 20 handicappers, Choi picked up the phone, called that toll-free number at the bottom of the screen and spit out his credit-card number to the operator on the other end.

The oversized grip, called the SuperStroke, is reputed to make players use their shoulders and minimize any nervy wrist motion. It must have its attributes, since the only wrist action seen from Choi lately is reaching into his wallet to add more cash.

®2007 CBS Interactive, Inc.