‘PGA Star’ Seongjae Im's Power... ‘Korean Tour Cloud Gallery’

Woori Financial Championship Round 1 Hits Big
'Korean Hulk' Jeong Chan-min and Park Sang-hyun Draw Crowds

A rare spectacle to see after a long time.

On the 11th, a large crowd of spectators gathered at the Ferrum Club in Yeoju, Gyeonggi-do (Par 72, 7,232 yards) for the first round of the Korean Professional Golfers' Association (KPGA) Korean Tour Woori Financial Championship (total prize money 1.5 billion KRW). Im Sung-jae, Jung Chan-min, and Park Sang-hyun played together under the scorching sun, filling the course with golf fans.

The Cloud Gallery is following Im Sung-jae, Jung Chan-min, and Park Sang-hyun at the 1st hole of the 1st round of the Woori Financial Championship.
[Photo by KPGA]

These golf fans came to see Im Sung-jae, who is active on the PGA Tour. Im Sung-jae is ranked 18th in the world and is a star player with two PGA Tour wins. This is Im Sung-jae's first appearance in a Korean Tour event in 3 years and 7 months since the Genesis Championship in October 2019. He also intended to participate in last year's Woori Financial Championship but had to withdraw due to contracting COVID-19 just before the tournament.

After finishing tied for 8th at last week's PGA Tour Wells Fargo Championship, Im Sung-jae immediately boarded a flight to Korea. In the first round, he recorded four birdies, one bogey, and one double bogey, placing him tied for 24th (1-under 71). He was cruising with birdies on holes 1, 3, and 7 but made a tee shot mistake on the 9th hole (par 5), resulting in a double bogey. In the back nine, after a bogey on the 10th hole (par 4), he maintained pars and finished with a birdie on the final 18th hole (par 5), setting up for the second round.

The crowd that gathered that day was not only there to see Im Sung-jae. Many fans also came to watch Jung Chan-min, the ‘Korean Hulk,’ who won last week's GS Caltex Maekyung Open with a terrifying drive close to 400 yards. Park Sang-hyun, a leading star of the Korean Tour, also attracted golf fans. Jung Chan-min struggled with 3 over par in the first six holes but then made four birdies to join the group tied for 24th. Veteran Park Sang-hyun collected five birdies (one bogey) to position himself tied for 2nd place (4-under 68). Korean-American Han Seung-soo leads with 5-under 67.