Kim Chan-woo '1-Point Victory'... 'I am the Yeongam Man'

Second Career Win in 8 Months at KPGA Classic
Jang Yubin Runner-up, Lim Yetak 3rd, Kim Hanbyeol 7th
Go Guntaek and Kim Mingyu Tied 23rd, Kim Hongtaek 53rd

Kim Chan-woo, in his third year, has emerged as the 'master of the modified Stableford.'

Kim Chan-woo is teeing off at the 3rd hole of the 4th round of the KPGA Classic.
[Photo by KPGA]

On the 12th, at the KPGA Classic (total prize money of 700 million KRW), a newly established tournament on the Korea Professional Golfers' Association (KPGA) Tour, held at Golfzon County Yeongam45 Kyle Phillips A·B Course (par 72, 7,556 yards) in Yeongam, Jeollanam-do, Kim added 8 points in the final 4th round to secure a one-point victory (33 points). This marks his second career win, eight months after winning the Bizplay Electronic Newspaper Open held in Yeongam last September. He has been on the tour for two years and earned 1,000 Genesis points along with a winner's prize of 140 million KRW.

This tournament was the only one on the KPGA Tour played under a modified Stableford system. Instead of counting strokes, points were awarded based on scores to determine the rankings. An albatross earned 8 points, an eagle 5 points, and a birdie 2 points. Par scored 0 points, a bogey -1 point, and double bogey or worse was penalized with -3 points.

Starting from a joint second place, two points behind the leader, Kim Chan-woo scored 8 points with five birdies and two bogeys. After his first birdie on the 7th hole (par 4), he faltered with consecutive bogeys on the 10th and 11th holes. However, he changed the momentum with three consecutive birdies from the 12th to the 14th holes, and secured the top spot on the leaderboard with a birdie on the 16th hole (par 4). He maintained his lead by parring the remaining two holes, preserving his one-point victory.

Jang Yubin is teeing off at the 3rd hole of the 4th round of the KPGA Classic.
[Photo by KPGA]

Jang Yoo-bin, who was the leader the previous day, managed only 5 points with four birdies and three bogeys. This marks his third top 5 and fourth top 10 finish this year. Kim Han-byeol, who had shown strength in the modified Stableford format, settled for a joint 7th place (28 points). Byeon Jin-jae finished 10th (27 points), Choi Jin-ho tied for 11th (25 points), Lee Jeong-hwan tied for 14th (24 points), and Yoo Song-gyu ended in a tie for 17th (23 points). KPGA Founders Cup champion Ko Gun-taek and Kim Min-gyu tied for 23rd place (20 points), while last week's GS Caltex Maekyung Open winner Kim Hong-taek finished tied for 53rd (9 points).

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