Mungyeongjun's Fresh Start "Four-Under Par Surge"... Hogard Leads

3-Stroke Deficit Tied 9th on Day 1 of Qatar Masters, Louis Ten 2nd, Wang Jeonghun, Lee Taehee, and Choi Jinho Tied 41st

[Asia Economy Reporter No Woo-rae] Moon Kyung-jun (38, photo) is off to a good start.

On the 6th (Korea time), at the Education Golf Club in Doha, Qatar (par 71, 7,307 yards), the first day of the European (EPGA) Tour Commercial Bank Qatar Masters (total prize money $1.75 million) ended with a 4-under-par round, placing him tied for 9th. Six players, including Benjamin Herbert (France), are in this group. Nikolai Højgaard (Denmark) leads with 7-under-par 64, Joost Luiten (Netherlands) is second with 6-under-par 65, and Andy Sullivan (England) and others are tied for third at 5-under-par 66.

Moon Kyung-jun recorded six birdies and two bogeys. His strong start included a birdie on the 10th hole (par 4) and consecutive birdies on the 12th and 13th holes. After briefly pausing with bogeys on the 14th and 17th holes, he showed clean play with consecutive birdies on the 2nd and 3rd holes in the back nine, followed by a birdie on the 6th hole (par 5). He powered his round with an average drive of 313.5 yards, a green hit rate of 77.7%, and 1.5 putts per hole. He is three strokes behind the leader, in a position to aim for his first European Tour victory.

Moon Kyung-jun is a veteran who has been active on the Korean Professional Golf Association (KPGA) Korean Tour since 2007. He secured his only win at the 2015 Maekyung Open. Last year, without a win, he showed resilience by entering the top 10 seven times and won the Order of Merit. He played in all 15 tournaments, advancing to the final round each time, boasting the best average score of 70.18. By winning the Order of Merit, he secured a direct ticket to the European Tour and is now competing on a bigger stage.

Last week at the Oman Open, he missed the cut. Nikolai Højgaard swept the leaderboard with nine birdies (two bogeys). His six consecutive birdies from the 10th to the 15th hole were spectacular. His putting average of 1.4 per hole was outstanding. He is famous as one of the Danish identical twin golfers. His twin brother Rasmus won the European Tour AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open last December at the third youngest age ever (18 years and 271 days).

The twin brothers brought Denmark its first victory at the Amateur Team World Championship in September 2018. Nikolai finished runner-up last September at the KLM Open after competing for the win with Sergio Garcia (Spain). Nikolai cheered, saying, "My putting was good," and "It was the best day." Six-time champion Luiten is chasing the leader by one stroke. Korea's Wang Jeong-hoon (25), Lee Tae-hee (36), and Choi Jin-ho (36, Hyundai Steel) are tied for 41st place (1-under-par 70).

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