Sanghyun Park "Challenging First Ever Back-to-Back Wins at DB Insurance Promy Open"

KPGA Korean Tour Opening Event Starts on the 13th
Seo Yoseop and Kim Kyungtae Clash in Round 1
Attention on Surpassing Total Prize Money of 4.5 Billion Won

Sanghyun Park will challenge the first-ever consecutive two-time victory at the 2023 Korea Professional Golf Association (KPGA) Korean Tour season opener, the DB Insurance Promy Open (total prize money of 700 million KRW).

Last year's winner of the DB Insurance Promy Open, the opening event of the Korean Professional Golfers' Association (KPGA) Korean Tour, Park Sang-hyun [Photo by KPGA]

The DB Insurance Promy Open will be held for four days starting from the 13th at La Vie Est Belle Country Club (par 72) in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province. Since DB Insurance began solely hosting this tournament in 2011, there have been 11 competitions up to last year (the 2020 event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic), each with a different winner. As the defending champion, Sanghyun Park aims for the tournament's first back-to-back win. In last year’s tournament, he entered the final round tied for 9th place, five strokes behind the solo leader, and made a comeback by shooting four strokes under par in one day to claim victory.

He stated, "The key is to quickly adapt to the tournament course by improving my game sense, stamina, and condition in time for this season opener," adding, "My goal is, of course, to defend the title."

Previously, since joining the tour in 2005, Sanghyun Park has won a total of 13 titles including domestic and Japan tours, but has never successfully defended a title. Up to last season, he has earned a cumulative prize money of 4,386,570,000 KRW, ranking first in all-time domestic earnings. If he wins this tournament, which offers a first-place prize of 140 million KRW, he will surpass 4.5 billion KRW in total career earnings for the first time.

In the first round of this tournament, Sanghyun Park will compete against Yosub Seo, who secured second place in the Genesis Points ranking with two wins last year, and Kyungtae Kim, who returned to the tour this year with a lifetime exemption. Additionally, past champions holding titles include Doyeop Moon (2021 winner), Garam Jeon (2018 winner), Dongseop Maeng (2017 winner), Jinho Choi (2016 winner), Inhoe Heo (2015 winner), Dongmin Lee (2014 winner), Kyungnam Kang (2011 winner), and Gisang Lee (2009 winner), all vying to become the first to win the tournament twice. Doyeop Moon, Yosub Seo, and Heemin Jang, who wear the DB Insurance logo on their caps, are also hoping to win the main sponsor’s hosted tournament.

Meanwhile, the DB Insurance Promy Open is the sixth oldest tournament among KPGA Korean Tour events held this year. The host company, DB Insurance, originally participated as the title sponsor of the KPGA Championship under its former name, Dongbu Fire & Marine Insurance, in 2005. Since 2012, during the tournament period, they have been conducting a social contribution event called "Love’s Birdie," which accumulates funds based on players’ total birdies and donates them to underprivileged and disadvantaged neighbors. The cumulative donation amount has reached 653.85 million KRW as of last year.

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