Korean men’s golf, which showed off a fresh start at the first tournament of the New Year of the American Professional Golf (PGA), transfers the rising trend to the Sony Open. Many Korean players will participate in the PGA Tour Sony Open (total prize money of 7.9 million dollars) to be held at Waialei Country Club (par 70, 744 yards) in Honolulu, Hawaii for four days from the 12th (local time). Three players participated in the Sentry Tournament of Champions, but this time more players are competing to win the championship. A total of 7 Korean players will participate.
It is inevitable that attention is focused on Korea’s ‘Young Gun’ Kim Joo-hyung (21), who entered the ‘Top 5’ of the first tournament. Many foreign media are citing Kim Joo-hyung as a strong candidate to win the Sony Open. Prior to the tournament, he was ranked first overall in the ‘Power Ranking’ selected by the PGA Tour website. The reason is simple. This is because Kim Joo-hyung has the highest ranking among the players in this tournament.
Kim Joo-hyung has the highest world ranking (14th) and FedEx Cup ranking (3rd) among the players participating in this tournament. Jordan Spieth (USA, 15th) in the world rankings, and Keegan Bradley (USA, 5th) in the FedEx Cup rankings are the contestants following Kim Joo-hyung.
Kim Joo-hyung, who quickly achieved official entry and settlement on the PGA Tour by winning the Wyndham Championship in August and the Shriners Children’s Open in October of last year, tied for 5th place (22 under par 270 strokes) at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, the first tournament of 2023 on the PGA Tour. . 메이저놀이터
This season’s performance is a green light in that it maintained a record within 5th place for four days in a tournament in the nature of ‘King of Kings’, in which only players who won the PGA Tour last year or went to the Tour Championship, the final match of the season, can participate. The local atmosphere is that entering the top 10 is only a matter of time.
Lee Gyeong-hoon (32), who tuned his shot sense by finishing in a tie for 7th in the Sentry Tournament of Champions, and Lim Seong-jae (25), who finished in a tie for 13th, will also compete for two weeks in a row. Lee Kyung-hoon rose from 33rd last year to 7th. The rise is so frightening. Above all, the accurate iron shot that enabled a high green hit rate stood out.
Lim Seong-jae, who tied for 13th in his first tournament, is also eager for this tournament. Although he rose to 13th place due to poor performance on the last day, in the 3rd round, he showed tremendous potential to rise to 7th place with 6 birdies and 1 eagle in a row. A little bit of his ups and downs gave him confidence that he would be able to perform better in the next tournament. In addition, Kim Si-woo (28), Kim Seong-hyeon (25), and Ahn Byeong-hun (32) will also be competing in the first tournament of the new year.
The defending champion of this tournament is Hideki Matsuyama, the star of Japanese men’s golf. Matsuyama defeated Russell Henry (USA) in overtime last year to win the tournament, tying with Choi Kyung-joo for the most wins by an Asian player with eight wins on the PGA Tour. Matsuyama tied for 21st at the Sentry Tournament of Champions.
Henry, who suffered an overtime loss last year, will also participate in this tournament. Henry, who was also the winner of the 2013 Sony Open, ranked second in the ‘power ranking’ after Kim Joo-hyung. Matsuyama placed eighth.
