‘Seungbusa’ Park Sanghyun's Excitement... "Have You Seen a 10-Under 61?"

Baeksong Holdings-Asiad CC Busan Open 1R Leader
Ham Jung-woo 2nd, Lee Sang-hee 3rd, Lee Tae-hee 6th Progressing Well
Jo Woo-young 7th, Kim Sung-hyun 14th, Hwang Jung-gon 45th

‘Veteran clutch player’ Park Sang-hyun broke his personal lowest score record.

On the 26th, at the first round of the KPGA Korean Tour Baeksong Holdings-Asiad CC Busan Open (total prize money 800 million KRW) held at Asiad Country Club in Gijang-gun, Busan (par 71, 7,103 yards), he shot 10-under-par 61 to take the lead. His previous personal best was 8-under-par 63, achieved in the 4th round of the 34th Shinhan Donghae Open in September 2018 and the 2nd round of last year’s DGB Financial Group Open.

Sanghyun Park is teeing off at the 9th hole in the first round of the Baeksong Holdings-Asiad CC Busan Open.
[Photo by KPGA]

Park Sang-hyun made eight birdies, including an eagle on the 9th hole (par 5), without any bogeys. Leading by two strokes, he laid the groundwork for back-to-back wins following the Genesis Championship two weeks ago. Park Sang-hyun has a total of 12 wins on the Korean Tour and is the first KPGA player to surpass 5 billion KRW in career prize money (5.04 billion KRW). After winning the DB Insurance Promy Open in April last year, he had not added any wins until showing strong finishing form this season. He currently ranks first in average score (70.07), second in prize money ranking (654 million KRW), and fourth in Genesis Points (4,138.81). If he performs well in the remaining three tournaments, he is in a position to win multiple titles.

Right after the round, Park Sang-hyun said, "Everything was good. Rather than trying too hard to play well, I relaxed and played." He smiled brightly, adding, "My shot feeling is very good. Since I came straight to this tournament after winning the Genesis Championship, I think that helped produce good results." He continued, "I believe that if I play with confidence, I can achieve good results. Rather than practicing excessively, as long as I don’t lose my current rhythm, I think good results will come."

Genesis Points leader Ham Jeong-woo stood in second place with 8-under-par 63. He made nine birdies (one bogey), including seven consecutive birdies. Lee Sang-hee, Kim Min-jun, and Kim Chan-woo tied for third place (7-under-par 64), while Lee Tae-hee was in sixth place (6-under-par 65). Asian Games gold medalist Cho Woo-young tied for seventh place (5-under-par 66), and PGA member Kim Sung-hyun tied for 14th place (4-under-par 67). Defending champion Hwang Jung-gon started tied for 45th place (1-under-par 70).

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