“Let’s go see world star Lim Seong-jae, monster long hitter Jeong Chan-min”… Fans flocked to the Korean tour
“I always support Im Seong-jae. Cool” “Look over there, Jeong Chan-min has a great physique” “Shall we bet on who will hit the best, I’m Park Sang-hyun~”… .
On the 11th, the first round of the Korea Professional Golf (KPGA) Korean Tour Woori Finance Championship was held at the Ferrum Club in Yeoju-si, Gyeonggi-do. When Park Sang-hyun (40), Lim Seong-jae (25), and Jung Chan-min (24안전놀이터) appeared in the teeing area of hole 1 for the start at 12:57 pm, cheers and applause, which are difficult to see on the KPGA Korean Tour, poured out. On that day, about 1,800 fans gathered, and more than half of them followed these groups. There were many fans who did not hesitate to drive for more than an hour or two from the metropolitan area and the central region. In Korea, it is said that men’s golf is less popular than women’s golf, but the atmosphere changed when stars driving the topic appeared.
Lim Seong-jae, who appeared on the Korean Tour stage 3 years and 7 months after winning the Genesis Championship in October 2019, exchanged greetings with fans by bumping fists. Lim Seong-jae, who has the highest world ranking (18th) among Korean players, has won the US Professional Golf (PGA) Tour twice and is the first Korean player to qualify for 30 players for 4 consecutive years in the final round of the PGA Tour playoffs. is the pride of
Im Seong-jae returned to Korea last year to participate in this tournament, but it was regrettable that he turned away after testing positive for the corona the day before the opening day. Lim Seong-jae returned to Korea immediately after making his seventh top 10 this season with a tie for 8th at the Wells Fargo Championship on the PGA Tour, and started the match two days later. Jeong Chan-min, the ‘Korean Hulk’, who won the GS Caltex Maekyung Open on the 7th with a huge long hit of over 340 yards, seemed to enjoy the hot interest of the fans. When he caught a birdie, he threw the ball to the fans. The atmosphere maker was veteran Park Sang-hyun. He said, “I will not take off my sunglasses today. The tee shot distance is 50m away from Chanmin’s, and I would have taken the second shot first every time, but it was embarrassing.” Quite a few fans tried to take photos and videos of them, and even a scene that led to the mistakes of the players came out. Jeong Chan-min played OB (out of bounds) on the 5th hole, probably affected by the sound of the camera shutter. However, they never showed any signs of blaming the fans or getting angry. When a fan who tried to take a video of Lim Seong-jae’s shot said that he couldn’t see it because it was covered by Park Sang-hyun, Park Sang-hyun grinned and avoided it. Park Sang-hyun had the shortest distance, but, like a veteran, tied for second place with a 4 under par 68 strokes. It is one stroke away from the leader, Korean-American Han Seung-soo (5 under par, 67 strokes). Lim Seong-jae and Jung Chan-min tied for 24th with a 1-under 71 strokes. Im Seong-jae said, “It was my first Korean tournament in four years, and it was amazing that so many fans came. I want to sleep well today and show a better game in the second round.”
