Final total 25 under par 263 strokes… Wins by one stroke ahead of the 2nd place group
Ok Tae-hoon hits 9-under 27 on the out course, records lowest score for 9 holes
Ham Jeong-woo, who was crowned the top player in the Korea Professional Golf Association (KPGA) last year, won the KPGA Tour Golfzon-Toray Open (total prize money of 1 billion won). This is his first trophy of the season.
Ham Jeong-woo shot a 6-under 66 with 7 birdies and 1 bogey in the final 4th round of the tournament held at Golf Zone County Seonsan (par 72) in Gumi-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do on the 15th.
Ham Jeong-woo, who shot a final total of 25-under 263, won the tournament by one stroke over the group tied for second place.
Until the end of the match that day, Ham Jeong-woo, Kang Tae-young, Ok Tae-hoon, and Jang Hee-min were in a close battle, tied for first place, but Ham Jeong-woo birdied the final 18th hole to take the sole lead and lift the trophy.
Ham Jeong-woo, who won his first title in 2019 at the ‘SK Telecom Open’, achieved his first win of the season and his 4th overall win at the ‘Golfzon-Toray Open’ today.
Following them, Jae-woong Eom and In-hoe Heo finished the tournament tied for 5th place with 23-under 265 strokes.
Chan-Min Jeong, who lifted the trophy at this tournament last year, finished tied for 26th with a final score of 18-under 270.
After the match, Ham Jeong-woo said, “Actually, I didn’t know I would win this year. It wasn’t easy to get the feel of it after going to the US Korn Ferry Tour,” and added, “I thought I would get the feel of it as much as possible this year and try to fly again in 2025, but I unexpectedly won. This win feels like my daughter ‘Soyul’,” he said with a smile.
He did not do well on the KPGA Tour while competing in overseas tour competitions. He was the winner of the Genesis Award last year, but his performance was not as good as expected, so people around him were worried. He gave credit to his family, saying, “They told me not to be stressed, and I think I was able to win thanks to that strength.”
Ham Jeong-woo only secured his victory after making a birdie on the 18th hole of the final round.
He said, “I made a chip-in birdie on the 15th hole (par 4), and my tee shot on the 16th hole (par 4) hit a tree and came in. Then, I made a birdie on the 18th hole, and I thought that all the luck was on my side and that I had to win.”
On the 18th hole, he explained the situation when he was confirmed as the winner, saying, “I sent my tee shot to the left rough and my second shot was also good, so I didn’t think I would end up in the bunker, but when I got near the green, I was in the bunker. I thought I had to decide the outcome with a putt after my approach, but I hit it so that it passed by about 10m and it went in.”
Ham Jeong-woo received the ‘Genesis Award’ last year and also challenged himself on the American stage.
He said, “Life on the Korn Ferry Tour (second division tour) was harder than I thought. I thought golf would be over if I settled down, but Korean players in the U.S. helped me a lot,” and “I had a hard time because my swing sequence and timing were all messed up while trying to keep up with overseas players.”
He also said that during difficult times, he received a lot of advice from his wife, Kang Ye-rin, who is also a professional golfer.
Ham Jeong-woo said with a laugh, “I asked my wife to give me lessons,” and “I told her to aim to complete 18 holes, and at the end, she smiled and told me to come in.”
As the season nears its end, he set his goal as “three wins.”
He said, “It’s good to play consistently well, but even if that’s not the case, I want to try winning several times in one season,” and “The next competition is the ‘Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance Choi Kyung-ju Invitational’ title defense. First, I will do my best to pass the preliminaries and play on the weekends.”
This tournament also set a new record with the first player in KPGA Tour history to achieve 10-under par for three consecutive rounds.
Following Ma Kwan-woo’s 10-under 62 with two eagles and six birdies in the second round of the tournament on the 13th, Lee Jung-hwan and Hwang Jung-gon recorded 10-under par in the third round the day before, and Ok Tae-hoon recorded 10-under par in the final fourth round today.
On this day, Ok Tae-hoon not only shot 10 under par, but also set a new KPGA Tour 9-hole lowest score record.
Ok Tae-hoon recorded a 9-under 27 with five birdies and two eagles without a bogey in the final round.
The previous record was 28, set by Park Do-gyu, Choi Sang-ho, and Bae Sang-moon.
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2024-09-15 23:26:39