'48 Jeon 49 Gi' Baek Seok-hyun "Happy to Make My Name Known"

SK Telecom Open Victory After 10 Years Since Debut
Reveals 62kg Weight Loss, Successfully Adds 'No-Look Putt'
"Focusing on Domestic Tour This Year, Will Also Play Asian Tour Next Year"

Baek Seok-hyun is a "unknown."

He debuted on the Korean Professional Golfers' Association (KPGA) Korean Tour in 2014 but failed to make a name for himself. He went to Thailand for golf studies when he was in middle school and ended up living there for 16 years, making his professional debut in Thailand. He mainly played on the Asian Tour, making him unfamiliar to domestic fans. When the Asian Tour shrank due to the global spread of COVID-19, he moved to the Korean Tour in 2021, but as his 60th place in last year’s prize money ranking shows, he did not leave a strong impression. The only brief buzz he received was when the story of how he reduced his weight from 140 kg to 80 kg became known.

Baek Seok-hyun has succeeded in escaping obscurity. On the 21st, he won the SK Telecom Open (total prize money 1.3 billion KRW) held at Pinx Golf Club in Seogwipo, Jeju Island, with a "wire-to-wire" victory. He achieved his first win in his 49th tournament since debuting on the Korean Tour. Including his non-member status, he won in his 56th Korean Tour appearance and received 260 million KRW in prize money. This amount is more than the total prize money of 230.51 million KRW he earned in the previous 48 tournaments before this event.

Baek Seok-hyun is shedding tears after winning his first career victory at the SK Telecom Open.
[Photo by KPGA]

Baek Seok-hyun exclaimed, "I didn’t know this feeling. I’m indescribably happy," and added, "I’m glad to finally make my name known to fans who were unfamiliar with me." Baek got married in December last year. He said, "I wanted to show a good image to my wife and my in-laws. I was happy to show a great performance in the first and second rounds, and it led to the victory," and smiled, "I will give the prize money to my wife. But I guess I can still buy something I want, right?"

Baek Seok-hyun’s victory also brought back the story of how he reduced his weight, which once exceeded 140 kg in 2019. He recalled, "After deciding to lose weight, I didn’t consume any carbohydrates or salt for three months," and added, "I lost 62 kg in eight months." He laughed and said, "Now I weigh less than 100 kg. It’s not easy to manage my weight because I have a habit of relieving stress by eating."

Baek Seok-hyun made a series of birdies with so-called "no-look putting," where he looked at the hole instead of the ball within a distance of 4 meters. Baek said, "In today’s final round, I also looked at the cup to putt and overcame the crisis. The no-look putt was a temporary measure for this tournament. From the next tournament, I plan to use a Bloomstick putter and putt normally while looking at the ball." He recalled, "When I made the decisive par putt for the victory, I didn’t look at the ball or the cup. I only looked at my hands. After sinking it, my mind went blank. I couldn’t believe I had won."

With this victory, Baek Seok-hyun can now have a stable tour life. He said, "Securing a four-year card on the regular tour gives me time to adapt to Korean grass. I now have the luxury to fix parts of my swing and other things I want to improve," and vowed, "I want to be a player who wins not just once but two or three times." He revealed his future plans, saying, "This year, I will focus on the domestic tour and take the Asian Tour qualifying school at the end of the year to compete on both the Korean and Asian Tours."