The Nature of the Event Is Revealed by Its Name

Only players invited to the Invitational participate
Open is open to both professionals and amateurs
Match play is a 1-on-1 competition format

It is diverse. This is a story about professional golf tournaments around the world. The nature of the tournament can be seen from its name. On the 3rd, the Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance Choi Kyung-ju Invitational (total prize money 1.25 billion KRW) of the Korea Professional Golfers' Association (KPGA) Tour began at the Ferrum Club (par 72) in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province. Invitational means invitation. In golf, it is a tournament where only invited players participate. Selection is based on criteria set by the organizers such as prize money ranking, past winners, specific tournament rankings, reputation, and special invitations. Hosts can be professional golfers, sponsoring companies, golf courses, or charitable organizations.

Host Choi Kyung-ju (second from the right) is greeting at the KPGA Tour Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance Choi Kyung-ju Invitational official press conference.
[Photo by KPGA]

The Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance Choi Kyung-ju Invitational is hosted by 'The Tank' Choi Kyung-ju. Choi personally set up the course. He prepared firm and fast greens, deep and tough roughs, and narrow fairways. Also, Choi did not hold a pro-am and guaranteed players two days of practice rounds. He supported the entry fees and provided free meals, showing consideration so that the juniors could perform at their best.

The KPGA Tour held the Hana Bank Invitational in June. The U.S. Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) Tour has two Invitational tournaments this year. The Genesis Invitational in February and the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March were held. The U.S. Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour will hold the Grant Thornton Invitational in December. The Korean Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) Tour has no Invitational tournaments this year. Until 2022, there was the OK Financial Group Park Se-ri Invitational.

There are many Open tournaments in professional golf. The US Open, The Open, Korea Open, and AIG Women's Open are representative examples. Open means an open stage where professionals and amateurs, regardless of nationality, can participate if they meet the requirements. Professionals and amateurs without a seed must naturally go through regional qualifiers. The charm of Open tournaments is that upsets can happen. You can see amateur players dominating the top of the leaderboard.

Match play is a format where players compete one-on-one to determine the winner. The score is not important. Winning the hole is what matters. You can see higher-ranked players being upset by lower-ranked players. Recently, group stages have been introduced to minimize upsets. This year, the Doosan Match Play Championship, Descente Korea Match Play, and T-Mobile Match Play were held.

Masters means a master, artisan, or an outstanding person in golf. The original Masters Tournament is held every year in the second week of April at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, USA. Only the best players who are strictly selected can participate in this tournament. This year in Korea, the Jeju Samdasoo Masters, Nexen Saint Nine Masters, The Haven Masters, and Celltrion Queens Masters were held.

Classic is used to mean classical, elegant, or top-level. It is traditional and large in scale. It takes place at prestigious and famous golf courses. Examples include the Honda Classic, Toto Japan Classic, and KPGA Classic. Championship is a tournament where top-ranked players participate to determine the winner. Examples include the PGA Championship, Amundi Evian Championship, and BMW Ladies Championship.