'3rd Year' Shin Sang-hoon "First Career Win is a Major~"......Hwang Jung-gon Runner-up (Summary)

2-Stroke Victory at KPGA Championship '3 Billion KRW and a 5-Year Tour Card', Bae Yong-jun 3rd, '2-Time Champion' Kim Bi-o Tied 4th

Shin Sang-hoon is cheering after securing victory on the 18th hole of the final day of the KPGA Championship. Photo by KPGA

[Asia Economy Reporter No Woo-rae] ‘3rd-year’ Shin Sang-hoon (24) has become a major champion.

On the 12th, at A-One Golf Club in Yangsan, Gyeongnam (Par 71, 7,048 yards), Shin fired a 6-under-par final round to secure a 2-stroke victory (17-under-par 267) at the Korean Professional Golfers' Association (KPGA) Korean Tour Major KPGA Championship (total prize money 1.5 billion KRW). This was his first win since debuting on the Korean Tour in 2020, earning him 300 million KRW in prize money. In addition, he secured a 5-year tour card and a ticket to the PGA Tour CJ Cup, among other impressive rewards.

Shin Sang-hoon is a player who was part of the national representative reserve team in 2017 and 2018. In August 2020, he showed his strength by finishing tied for 4th at the GS Caltex Maekyung Open. Last year, he achieved his personal best by finishing runner-up at the Genesis Championship in October. His prize money ranking last year was 12th (339.25 million KRW). Although he did not make a ‘Top 10’ in six tournaments this year, he pulled off a thrilling come-from-behind victory on the third day of the KLPGA Championship by tying the course record with a 10-under-par 61.

Shin Sang-hoon is smiling brightly while holding the trophy right after winning the KPGA Championship. Photo by KPGA

Starting from a tie for 2nd place, 1 stroke behind, Shin collected 7 birdies (1 bogey). He took control of the leaderboard with 4 consecutive birdies from holes 1 to 4, and maintained his lead gap by making 3 consecutive birdies from holes 13 to 15. Although he made a bogey on the 16th hole (par 5), allowing Hwang Jung-gon (30) to close the gap to 2 strokes, he finished holes 17 and 18 with pars to secure the victory. After barely making the cut tied for 52nd place in the 2nd round, he impressively reduced his score by 16 strokes over the remaining two days.

"Since I set the course record yesterday, I approached today’s round calmly without getting excited," said Shin Sang-hoon. "I was confident in my putting among all shots, and when I played boldly, it went as I expected," he cheered. He added, "Now that I have gained stability, I will work harder to move forward," and said, "Having won in Korea, I am now thinking of challenging the PGA Tour Korn Ferry Tour (the 2nd tier)."

Hwang Jung-gon is making an iron shot on the 1st hole on the final day of the KPGA Championship. Photo by KPGA

2017 champion Hwang Jung-gon fought hard by lowering his score by 3 strokes but had to settle for runner-up (15-under-par 269). He lost momentum in his chase after making a bogey on the 16th hole (par 4). Bae Yong-jun (22) finished 3rd (11-under-par 273), while two-time champion Kim Bi-o (32) and Kim Jun-sung (31) tied for 4th place (10-under-par 274). Kim Sung-hyun (24), who made history in 2020 by winning after going through Monday qualifying for the first time ever, recorded 3 birdies, 1 bogey, and 1 double bogey, finishing tied for 6th place (9-under-par 275).

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