Shinhan Donghae Open "This Year in Japan~"

The Shinhan Donghae Open will be held in Japan this year.

[Asia Economy Reporter No Woo-rae] The Shinhan Donghae Open will be held in Japan.

Shinhan Financial Group announced on the 3rd, "This year's tournament will be held overseas," adding, "This is an expansion to grow into a major tournament representing Asia." The competition will kick off for four days starting September 10th at Koma Golf Course in Nara Prefecture, Japan. The total prize money has also increased by 200 million KRW from last year's 1.2 billion KRW to 1.4 billion KRW. The winner's prize is 252 million KRW. It is the second largest prize pool domestically after the Genesis Championship (total prize money 1.5 billion KRW).

The Shinhan Donghae Open was originally established in 1981 by Korean-Japanese businessmen with the purpose of developing golf in their homeland and nurturing international players. It has the longest history among single-sponsor tournaments. Since last year, it has been jointly hosted by the Korean Tour, Asian Tour, and Japan Golf Tour Organization (JGTO). Koma Golf Course, designed by Gary Player (South Africa), opened in 1980 and is a 27-hole members-only course. It hosted the major Japan PGA Championship in 2002 and the JGTO Kansai Open in May last year.

Notably, it is the golf course established and directly operated by the late Lee Hee-geon, Honorary Chairman of Shinhan Bank, who laid the foundation for the creation of the Shinhan Donghae Open. Choosing this golf course was a way to honor the founders' intentions. This year’s winner will receive tour cards simultaneously for the Korean, Japanese, and Asian tours. Chairman Cho Yong-byeong said, "I hope this will be a great opportunity to help improve the players' skills," and added, "We will continue to pursue various overseas brand marketing efforts."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.