Hwacheon-gun to Open 2026 Park Golf Season on 24th...1,500 Players from Across Korea to Compete

Hwacheon-gun Sports Council to Host
"2026 National Park Golf Tournament" with Total Prize Pool of 20 Million Won
Through March 11... Four Qualifying Rounds and Final Round

The first national tournament signaling the opening of the 2026 park golf season in Korea will be held in Hwacheon, known as the "capital of park golf."

The Hwacheon-gun Sports Council will host the 2026 Season Open National Park Golf Tournament from February 24 to March 11 at the Sancheoneo Park Golf Course on the Bukhangang riverside in Hanam-myeon and the Hwacheon Sports for All Park Golf Course.

More than 1,500 park golf enthusiasts from across the country, including the Seoul metropolitan area such as Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, have signed up to compete in this year's season-opening tournament.

The tournament, which is hosted and organized by the Hwacheon-gun Sports Council and sponsored by Hwacheon-gun, the Korea Park Golf Association, and the Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province Park Golf Association, will feature separate men's and women's divisions.

Each team will consist of two players: one general participant and one senior participant.

The competition will be held in a format of four qualifying rounds on February 24 to 25 and March 3 to 4, followed by a final round on March 10 to 11.

The qualifiers will take place at Course 1 of the Sancheoneo Park Golf Course and at the Hwacheon Sports for All Park Golf Course, while the finals will be held on Courses 1 and 2 of the Sancheoneo Park Golf Course.

Each qualifying round will be played over 36 holes, and in the finals, 90 teams in each of the men's and women's divisions will compete over a total of 72 holes across two days to determine the winners.

In line with its status as the first national tournament of the season, the winning team in each of the men's and women's divisions will receive prize money of 10 million won.

In each division, 5 million won will be awarded for second place, 3 million won for third place, 2 million won for fourth place, and 1 million won for fifth place, with prize money paid out down to 15th place.

During the finals, any player who scores a hole-in-one on designated holes on Courses 1 and 2 of the Sancheoneo Park Golf Course will receive an event prize of 5 million won per hole-in-one.

Hwacheon-gun plans to carry over the excitement from the successful 2026 Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival to the park golf tournament, thereby invigorating the local economy during the midwinter season.

To this end, the Hwacheon-gun Sports Council will refund a 20,000-won Hwacheon Love Gift Certificate to each qualifying team that pays a 20,000-won entry fee, and will provide each team advancing to the finals with a 40,000-won Hwacheon Love Gift Certificate and 40,000 won worth of local agricultural and specialty products upon payment of an 80,000-won entry fee.

Accordingly, spending of local gift certificates within the region is expected to become more active during the tournament period.

Hwacheon County Mayor Choi Moonsun said, "Hwacheon is now known nationwide not only for the Sancheoneo Ice Festival but also as a hub of park golf," adding, "We will carry out more aggressive marketing this year so that park golf can become a new driving force for the local economy."