Ham Jeong-woo

Domestic powerhouses, including Ham Jeong-woo, the winner of this year’s Korea Professional Golf (KPGA) Korean Tour Grand Prize, are knocking on the door of the LIV Golf League, sponsored by Saudi Arabia’s Sovereign Wealth Fund (PIF).

LIV Golf will hold a promotional tournament at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club (par 72, 7,632 yards) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for three days starting on the 8th (local time).

This is a competition that provides an opportunity to advance to LIV, and is the first time that LIV is holding a competition of this nature.

The top three players in this tournament, in which 73 players from 23 countries participate, will be eligible to participate in next year’s LIV League.

The total prize money is $1.5 million (approximately 1.96 billion won), with $200,000 in prize money for the winner.

This competition attracts attention as players active in the Korean Tour apply to participate.

Ham Jeong-woo, who stands tall as the ‘number one player’ of the Korean Tour in the 2023 season that ended last month, is also included.

He achieved his third career win at the Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance Choi Kyung-ju Invitational in October of this year and entered the top 10 11 times, half of the 22 competitions this season.

He showed consistent performance, ranking 3rd in prize money (KRW 632.52 million) and 1st in the top 10 finish category, and attention is being paid to whether he will be competitive in this competition as well.

In addition, Go Gun-taek, who won 3 wins in the Korean Tour in the 2023 season alone, also applied, and ‘long-hitting king’ Chan-min Jeong, who won 2 wins, Kang Gyeong-nam, a veteran with 11 wins in total, and Bio Kim, who won 9 wins on domestic and international tours, will also participate.

Moon Kyung-jun, Lee Tae-hee, Lee Jung-hwan, Eom Jae-woong, Han Seung-soo (USA), and Lee Tae-hoon (Canada) also took on the challenge.

The tournament is held as a 72-hole stroke play, and those tied for 20th place in the first round advance to the second round and compete with players who advanced directly to the second round with their scores ‘reset’.

Players like Kim Si-hwan (USA), who played in the LIV league but were pushed back to this tournament due to poor performance, will participate from the second round.

Players who are tied for 20th place after the second round will play a 36-hole match on the last day of the tournament with their scores back to zero to determine the top three players who will participate in next year’s LIV League.4th to 10th place are granted the right to participate in the Asian Tour International Series.

In addition to the Korean Tour players, this tournament includes Jason Dufner, who won the 2013 major PGA Championship, Kyle Stanley (USA), who won twice on the PGA Tour, and Victor Dubisson, who played for the European team in the Ryder Cup. France) are also taking action. 스포츠토토맨