Centum Golf CEO Baek Sanghyun Says, "Come See the Masters in Person"

Successfully Turned Experience of Playing 1,200 Courses Worldwide into Travel Products
From Top Civil Service Exam Scorer to Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley
"I Wanted to Give Weekend Golfers the Chance to Play These Courses Too"

"I guarantee it." This is how confident Centum Golf CEO Baek Sanghyun is. Drawing on his experience of playing rounds at more than 1,200 courses worldwide, he has successfully turned that into commercial products. Centum Golf is a travel platform specializing in the world's top 100 golf courses. Starting this year, it has also launched a real-time reservation service for golf courses around the world. In a recent interview with The Asia Business Daily, Baek smiled and said, "I was completely immersed in golf when I was young. My dream was to play every course in the world," adding, "As I fell deeper in love with golf, I eventually ended up running a golf business."

Centum Golf was founded in 2022. "Centum" means "100" in Latin. The goal is to provide highly satisfying golf travel services based on firsthand experience of playing rounds at the world's top 100 golf courses. The company operates products centered on prestigious courses and also offers packages to attend the Masters, The Open, and the Amundi Evian Championship.

Paek Sanghyun, CEO of Centum Golf, said, "We will help domestic golfers play rounds on the world's best courses." Provided by Centum Golf

This year, it has launched a package that includes watching the Masters and playing rounds at courses ranked among the world's top 100. The itinerary allows customers to enjoy golf at TPC Sawgrass, Kiawah Island Ocean Course, Pinehurst, and other courses in the United States. The package spans 9 days and 7 nights and is competitively priced. Baek said, "The golf travel market has recently been polarizing between luxury premium products and ultra-low-cost free independent travel products," explaining, "Centum Golf is targeting the premium segment that offers a differentiated experience."

His background also draws attention. After graduating from the Department of Economics at Seoul National University, he completed his military service in the early 1990s, then took a year off from school and went backpacking for 9 months. He traveled across Southeast Asia, India, and Europe. Baek recalled, "I set off with 2,200 dollars. In London, I spent ten days both sleeping rough and doing part-time jobs, and in about a month and a half I had earned 1,000 pounds." With the money he saved that way, he bought a Eurail Pass and roamed all over Europe.

While still in college, he passed the higher civil service exam with the second-highest score and was assigned to the Ministry of Finance and Economy. He handled World Trade Organization (WTO) tariff negotiations, shuttling back and forth to Geneva, Switzerland, and during the Asian financial crisis he traveled to the United States and other countries to work on upgrading Korea's sovereign credit rating. After completing his MBA at Stanford University, he joined the global investment bank Goldman Sachs, and later left the financial sector after serving as an executive director at Morgan Stanley. Laughing, he said, "You need money if you want to play rounds at the world's most prestigious courses."

Centum Golf launched a package this year that includes attending the Masters and playing a round at a Top 100 course. Provided by Centum Golf

Now he has expanded his personal experience into a business. "I thought that if I am the person who knows golf courses and travel best, I could invest directly and create even greater value," Baek said. Of the more than 1,200 overseas courses where he has played, over 90 are among the world's top 100. A considerable number of them are "super private" courses operated on a membership-only basis. "Through golf, I have experienced many forms of happiness and satisfaction in life," he said. "I want to share that experience with my customers."

Last year, Centum Golf signed an exclusive partnership in Korea with Golfscape, a UK-based real-time golf reservation platform. Korean users can book and pay for overseas golf courses in one go on the Centum Golf website, without going through a complicated membership registration process. Baek stressed, "I can confidently guarantee the condition of the courses and the overall travel satisfaction," adding, "We will provide active support so that customers can play comfortably at the best golf courses."