Lim Seong-jae (25, CJ Logistics, photo)안전놀이터 currently ranks 18th in the world men’s golf ranking, the highest among Korean players. He has two career victories on the American Professional Golf (PGA) Tour. This season, there is no championship yet, but instead, with stable performance, the season’s ‘Top 10’ has been 7 times, including a tie for 8th at the Wells Fargo Championship last week. In a word, they are showing world-class skills.
Such Lim Seong-jae entered the country. It is to participate in the Woori Finance Championship (total prize money of 1.5 billion won) held at the Ferrum Club East-West course (par 72, 7232 yards) in Yeoju, Gyeonggi-do for four days from the 11th to the 14th.
This tournament, along with the ’66th KPGA Championship with A-ONE CC’ and the ‘Genesis Championship’, is the tournament with the most prize money on the KPGA Korean Tour this season. The winner will receive a prize of 300 million won and a seed for two years. It is the first time in about 3 years and 7 months since the Genesis Championship in October 2019 that Im Seong-jae will participate in the KPGA Korean Tour. Im Seong-jae won the first victory in his career at the domestic tournament at the time. Therefore, if you win this tournament, it will be your second win in the country.
Im Seong-jae will compete for the championship with amateur Cho Woo-young (22, Woori Financial Group) and Jang Yu-bin (21), who will compete together as representatives of the Hangzhou Asian Games in September. This is the first time that the other three of the four Taegeuk warriors, excluding Kim Si-woo, have gathered in one place.
The recent momentum of Jo Woo-young and Jang Yu-bin is also scary, and attention is focused on their competition. Jo Woo-young recorded an amateur championship in 10 years at the Golfzon Open held in April. Jang Yoo-bin is also on the rise, ranking in the top 10 for two consecutive games, including a tie for 5th at the Golf Zone Open and a tie for 8th at the GS Caltex Maekyung Open.
Jang Hee-min (21, DB Insurance), who became the first year champion of this tournament, which was established last year, is challenging for a second consecutive victory in the tournament. Jeong “Ram” Chan-min (24, CJ OnStyle), who won his first win at the GS Caltex Maekyung Open last week, is on the hunt for the championship for two weeks in a row, using his trademark driver with an average distance of around 320 yards.