Unique Prizes at Golf Tournament: "From Toilet Paper Rolls to Excavators and Space Travel Tickets"

'Mini Tour Champ' Vernam Receives Toilet Paper, Sparking Buzz; Park In-bee and Lee Bo-mi's Excavator, Sullivan's Space Travel Ticket 'Trophies'

In 2018, Park In-bee won the Doosan Match Play Championship and received an excavator as a prize.

[Asia Economy Reporter Noo Rae] 'Toilet Paper Roll.'

An unusual prize appeared at a professional golf tournament. Sarah Burnham (USA) recently won the 11th round of the Cactus (Mini) Tour held at Sundance Golf Course in Arizona, USA, taking home a prize money of $2,800 (3.42 million KRW) along with a roll of toilet paper. It is interesting that toilet paper has become a precious item that runs out first in supermarkets due to the recent spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the United States. This is a special souvenir story of the players.

Golf queen Inbee Park (32, KB Financial Group) took home an excavator along with prize money of 175 million KRW by winning the 2018 Korean Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) Tour Doosan Match Play. The title sponsor Doosan Infracore provided the 'DX35Z-5' model excavator, worth 30 million KRW, released domestically. The original 'Excavator Champ' is I Bo-mi (32). She achieved back-to-back victories in 2016 and 2017 at the Japan Ladies Professional Golf Association (JLPGA) Tour CAT Ladies, sponsored by the world-renowned excavator company Caterpillar.

Im Ji-na feeding the Korean beef cattle that was the prize for a hole-in-one during the 2010 Volvik Open.

Japan, in particular, has many unique prizes. Areum Hwang (33) won a grand piano and a motorboat at the 2009 Yamaha Ladies Open, and Hyung-sung Kim (40) donated 3,650 cup noodles to an orphanage after winning the 2013 Japan Professional Golf Championship. Itoen Ladies gave free drink tickets for two years, and the Ricoh Cup offered round-trip airfare to Hawaii. The 20 million KRW wedding voucher and handmade cowboy boots from the PRGR Ladies Cup also caught attention.

The Japan Golf Tour Organization (JGTO) Dunlop Phoenix tournament offers Miyazaki specialty beef 'Wagyu,' valued at around 90 million KRW. If desired, it can be delivered disassembled by cuts. In Korea, a cow was once given as a hole-in-one prize on the KLPGA Tour. This happened at the 2010 Volvik Open. Taking advantage of the venue being Hoengseong, Gangwon Province, a barn was built next to the 13th hole (par 3) teeing ground at Alps Daeyoung Golf Course, and Korean beef was displayed as part of differentiated marketing.

The China Ladies Open offered specialty sorghum liquor equivalent to the player's weight, and the NEPS Masterpiece became a topic with its kitchen furniture system. Andy Sullivan (England)'s 'space travel ticket' was a highlight. On the final day of the 2014 European Tour KLM Open, he made a hole-in-one on the 15th hole (par 3) and secured a $195,000 (240 million KRW) ticket from a company called 'XCOR Space Expeditions.' The itinerary includes departing from the Mojave Desert, orbiting about 39 miles (62 km) in space, and returning to Earth.

Andy Sullivan is seen taking a commemorative photo right after receiving a "space travel ticket" following a hole-in-one at the 2014 KLM Open.

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