Tiger Woods, the Emperor of Golf, To Visit Korea in November

Tiger Woods (29, USA), “the Emperor of Golf,” is coming to Korea.

The special contest that Woods will take part in is the Skins Game “MBC Raon Engineering Invitational.” The game is scheduled for November 14 at the Raon Golf Club on Jeju Island.

Woods will compete with three other players including Choi Kyung-ju (Superior, TaylorMade) and Pak Se-ri (CJ) without regard to sex for the total prize of 200,000,000 won, which will be donated to charity. The last one of the four participants will be one of the top ranked players on the U.S. PGA tour.

Through the video message that the sponsor exhibited in the signing ceremony, Woods said, “I feel excited about my first visit to Korea. I cannot wait to meet my Korean fans.”

On the eve of the game, Woods is expected to join the Skills Challenge to show off the “Emperor’s shots”: his wizardry shots such as his trouble shots, approach shots and bunker shots.

Woods, known for not participating in foreign matches, made the bombshell decision to visit Korea because it fit into his schedule for the Japan PGA Dunlop Phoenix tournament (November 18-21). Woods decided to come to Korea first partly to recover from jet lag before that tournament.

The sponsor of the game announced that the invitational money paid to Woods was around $1.5 million (nearly 1.8 billion won), which is far below his usual invitation fee ($2 million-$3 million). This “bargain” contract was accomplished because the length of the visit is shorter for the special event, the game was not one of the regular Stroke Plays, and because Woods did not have anything scheduled for the weekend of the game.

Scottish golf hero Colin Montgomery designed the Raon Golf Club, whose official opening will be in September. MBC will broadcast the entire process of this event live.

Young-Sik Ahn ysahn@donga.com