Seungsoo Han Leads by One Stroke, Eyes Second Win on Korean Tour

Seung-su Han shoots 6-under 210 in Genesis Championship 3rd Round
Won-jun Lee and Sung-ho Yoon tied for 2nd, 1 stroke behind
Jung-woo Ham 4th, Ho-young Choi, Young-soo Kim, Sang-hee Lee tied for 5th

Han Seung-su is hitting an iron shot on the 2nd hole of the 3rd round at the Genesis Championship. Photo by KPGA

[Asia Economy Reporter Seohee Lee] Korean-American professional golfer Han Seung-soo (36, USA) has secured an opportunity for his second career win on the Korean Professional Golf Association (KPGA) Korean Tour.

On the 8th, Han Seung-soo shot a 2-under-par 70 in the third round of the Genesis Championship (total prize money 1.5 billion KRW) held at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea (par 72) in Songdo, Incheon. With a cumulative score of 6-under-par 210, he rose to the top of the leaderboard. He is one stroke ahead of joint second-place players Lee Won-jun (37, Australia) and Yoon Sung-ho (26).

Starting the day in fourth place, Han Seung-soo made consecutive birdies on the 2nd and 3rd holes in the front nine to move into the leading group. Although he made a bogey on the 10th hole (par 4) in the back nine, he sank a 5-meter birdie putt on the 17th hole (par 3) to maintain his lead.

Han Seung-soo was named the Player of the Year by the American Junior Golf Association in 2002 and turned professional in 2009. In 2015, he topped the Japan Golf Tour Organization (JGTO) Qualifying School. He won the JGTO Casio World Open in 2017.

He debuted on the Korean Tour in 2019 and claimed his first victory at the LG Signature Players Championship the following year. This season, he has played in 16 tournaments, making the cut in 12 of them, and has shown an upward trend with a tie for 9th at the DGB Financial Group Open and a tie for 5th at the Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance Choi Kyung-ju Invitational. If Han wins this tournament, it will be his second career win domestically.

After finishing his round, Han Seung-soo said in an interview, "Overall, the flow was very good. Since it was a moving day and the course is not easy, I aimed to play safely rather than taking risks. My driver shots, short game, and all aspects of my play went smoothly."

Yoon Sung-ho (26), who shot a 6-under-par 66 today, recorded a cumulative score of 5-under-par 211. The 6-under-par was the daily best score. Yoon, who debuted on the Korean Tour in 2018 and has yet to win a tournament, is now tied for second place with Lee Won-jun, the leader from the previous day, setting up a chance for a comeback victory on the final day. His best finish this season was 3rd place at the DGB Financial Group Open.

Ham Jung-woo (28) made a birdie on the final hole to shoot 1-under-par 71, moving up to 4th place with a cumulative 4-under-par 212. Choi Ho-young (25), who was tied for the lead with Lee Won-jun the previous day, lost three strokes and now shares 5th place with Kim Young-soo (33) and Lee Sang-hee (30).

2018 champion of this tournament, Lee Tae-hee (38), finished the third round tied for 8th place (2-under-par 214) along with Moon Do-yeop (31). Ryo Hisatsune from JGTO (Japan), who entered the tournament as a player ranked within the top 300 in the world, ended the third round tied for 12th place (1-under-par 215).

Meanwhile, the winner of this tournament will receive invitations to the PGA Tour's The CJ Cup held two weeks later, the Genesis Invitational on the PGA Tour next year, and the Genesis Scottish Open in July next year.

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