Powerful long hitter Chung Chan-min turned heads by using a wedge on the green.
On the 18th hole (par-5) of the first round of the Korea Professional Golf (KPGA) Korean Tour’s KB Financial Live Championship at Blackstone Golf Club (par-72) in Icheon-si토토사이트, Gyeonggi-do, Korea, Chung put his ball on the green in two.
However, the pin was in the back of the second green, and the ball was in the center of the first green, 20 meters away, so it was not easy to make a birdie with two putts, let alone an eagle.
After some discussion with his caddie, he was handed a wedge instead of a putter.
The ball landed three meters in front of the hole, rolled slightly, and stopped less than a meter away.
He hit it with the wedge, but the green was unscathed. It was a technical shot that utilized the bounce of the wedge.
The crowd applauded the magical green wedge shot.
Chung holed the birdie putt for a 1-under par 71 and ended her first round on a high note.
“I told my caddie that if I hit it with a putter, I’d probably make a 3-putt. He said it would be better if I hit it with a wedge, so I tried it and it worked out well,” he said.
“I tried it once in a practice round and it didn’t damage the green,” he said, adding, “I didn’t want to do it in a match because there are a lot of eyes watching and there are cameras, so I didn’t want to get criticized, but I was confident that the wedge shot wouldn’t damage the green.”
There’s no rule that says you have to use a putter on the greens in a golf tournament. You can use any club, not just wedges. It’s not against the rules to damage the green.
Chung’s day was a roller coaster, with five birdies, a double bogey, and two bogeys.
He was still able to hit his driver well over 300 yards. His tee shot on No. 6 hit 370 yards.
On the 18th hole, I hit a 309-yard tee shot with a hybrid and then hit an iron to the green with 240 yards left.
But when he made a mistake, he struggled to recover. A double bogey on the eighth (par-4) came when he hit a ball out of a bunker that ended up in the water.
Chung said, “I was tired after my first win. I decided to take a break from the next tournament to rest my body and mind.” “I will play with all my strength this time,” he said.
“I thought it would be nice to shoot under par, but it feels good to finish under par,” said Chung, who finished in a tie for ninth place, three strokes behind three tournament leaders who shot 4-under 68. “After shooting a decent score in the tournament last year, where I missed the cut after shooting 10-over par for two days, I definitely feel like I’ve improved,” he said.