Hwacheon County's Sancheoneo Park Golf Festival Grows into a Korea-Japan Friendship International Event

Tomakomai City Team from Hokkaido Joins Festival for Second Consecutive Year
Competing in General and Senior Finals Over Four Days Starting September 16

The Hwacheon Sancheoneo National Park Golf Festival, the largest park golf tournament in Korea, is emerging as an international event that is drawing attention even in Japan, the birthplace of park golf.

The team of players from the Tomakomai City Park Golf Association in Hokkaido, Japan, participating in the 2024 Hwacheon Sancheoneo National Park Golf Festival. Provided by Hwacheon County

Hwacheon County and the Hwacheon County Sports Association announced on the 13th that a team from Tomakomai City in Hokkaido, Japan, will participate in the finals of the 2025 Hwacheon Sancheoneo National Park Golf Festival for the second consecutive year. The finals will be held over four days from September 16 to 19.

The 11-member team will arrive in Korea on September 14 and begin adaptation training at the Sancheoneo Park Golf Course starting on the 15th in preparation for the finals.

Ten Japanese players, excluding the team leader, will compete in the tournament. They are known for their impressive skills, including instructors from the Japan Park Golf Association and association players.

The Hwacheon Sancheoneo National Park Golf Festival only allows the top park golf players in Korea to compete, following highly competitive preliminary rounds.

As a result, there is growing interest in the head-to-head matches between the best park golf players from Korea and Japan in the finals.

The participation of the Tomakomai City Park Golf Association team was made possible as part of an exchange program between local governments, which began last year between Hwacheon County and Tomakomai City.

In May last year, the Tomakomai City Association visited Hwacheon County to tour the Sancheoneo Park Golf Course, review its operating system, and examine the status of tournament hosting.

At the time, an association official commented, "Compared to park golf courses in Japan, this course is wider, longer, and has more slopes, making it dynamic. I was strongly impressed that even young people would enjoy playing here," adding, "After returning to Japan, our association will actively promote exchanges with Hwacheon County at the city level."

The 2025 Hwacheon Sancheoneo Park Golf Festival has attracted a record 3,650 participants.

During the four-day finals beginning on September 16, a total of 144 holes will be played, with 36 holes each day.

About 400 male and female players, both in the general and senior divisions, who were selected through eight rounds of preliminaries, will compete in the finals.

The male and female MVPs will each receive a prize of 30 million won, a solid gold embossed trophy, and the prestigious green jacket.

The first-place winners in the four categories (male and female, general and senior) will receive 10 million won each, second place 5 million won, and third place 3 million won. Including special event prizes for each category, the total prize pool for this year’s tournament reaches 191.2 million won, making it the largest single park golf event in Korea.

Choi Moonsoon, Governor of Hwacheon County, stated, "We will continue to develop the Hwacheon Sancheoneo National Park Golf Festival so that it can grow into an international competition representing Korea."

The 2025 Hwacheon Sancheoneo National Park Golf Festival is hosted by the Hwacheon County Sports Association and sponsored by Hwacheon County, the Korea Park Golf Association, the Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province Park Golf Association, and the Hwacheon County Park Golf Association.