Seungbin Choi’s driver tee shot.
Choi Seung-bin challenges for his second consecutive victory in the KPGA Championship (total prize money of 1.6 billion won), which boasts the longest history on the Korea Professional Golf (KPGA) Tour.
The KPGA Championship, which will be held for four days starting on the 6th at the A-One Country Club (par 71) in Yangsan-si, Gyeongsangnam-do, has been held for 67 consecutive years until this year, without missing a single event since 1958.
It has the longest history in the country.
However, this competition did not allow the winner for two years in a row.
There are only four players who have tasted the championship two years in a row: Jang-sang Han (1969, 1970, 1971), Jin-han Lim (1983, 1984), Choi Sang-ho (1985, 1986), and Yun-soo Choi (1987, 1988).
Moreover, since Choi Yun-soo’s second consecutive win, no player has successfully defended the title in 35 years until last year.
Choi Seung-bin, who emerged like a comet by winning this tournament last year, made a bold statement, saying, “The most important tournament this year is the KPGA Championship, so I prepared to be in top condition and performance during this tournament. Now, I will prove the process.” .
Choi Seung-bin, one of the best long hitters on the KPGA Tour, did not perform very well this year due to shaky iron shots and short games, but regained his shooting sense and confidence by reaching the semifinals at the Descent Korea Match Play on the 2nd.
Kim Min-gyu, who won the Descente Korea Match Play, is coveting victory in this competition where the grand prize points are allocated much more than other competitions in order to achieve this year’s goal of winning the Genesis Grand Prize.
Min-gyu Kim is ranked 2nd in the grand prize points rankings and 3rd in the prize money rankings, so if he wins this time, he will rise to the top in both categories.
Seungbin Choi, Mingyu Kim, and Seungsoo Han, winner of the KB Financial Live Championship, will tee off together at hole 1 at 1pm on the 6th.
Sang-pil Yoon, Gun-taek Ko, Hong-taek Kim, Chan-woo Kim, and Seung-soo Han, who reached the top once this year, will compete with Min-gyu Kim to be the first to win two games in the season.
Bae Sang-moon, who has 9 wins on the KPGA Tour, 3 wins on the Japan Tour, and 2 wins on the PGA Tour, will participate in the KPGA Championship for the first time in 14 years.
The revival of Bae Sang-moon, who will be appearing on the domestic stage for the first time in 1 year and 4 months since last year’s Korea Championship, has emerged as a topic of great interest in this tournament.
Bae Sang-moon, who starts the match at hole 1 at 12:50 pm on the 6th, will play the first and second rounds with Sang-hyun Park and Jeong-hwan Lee.
The performance of veterans such as 69-year-old Choi Sang-ho, who holds the most wins on the KPGA Tour (43 wins), Cho Cheol-sang (66), Park Nam-shin (65), Kim Jong-deok (63), Shin Yong-jin (60), Park No-seok (57), and Park Do-gyu (54), are also worth seeing. all.
Kim Jong-deok passed the cut last year at the age of 62 and is aiming to break the record for the oldest person to pass the cut.
In the past, the first and second rounds were played between these ‘old star’ players, but this year, they will be playing with active top players.
Choi Sang-ho tees off with Ko Gun-taek and Kim Han-byeol at 12:20 p.m. on the 6th, and Kim Jong-deok starts the match with opening match winner Yoon Sang-pil and Heo In-hoe at 12:10 p.m. 스포츠토토