Golfer Holds On for 1st Domestic Win

Yang Yong-eun (Gauge Design) won a cup in a domestic competition for the first time in four years.

The last round of the 49th KOLON-Hana Bank Korea Open Golf Championship held in the Woo Jeong Hills Country Club (Par 71, 7,086 yards) on September 24.

Yang was able to lower his score by only one shot in the fourth round, but achieved a final score of 14-under 270 to beat second place winner Kang Ji-mahn (Donga Membership) by three shots and win the prize money of 200 million won. With a record of four wins in the Japan Golf Tour, which he played in since 2004, Yang attained his second domestic victory since the SBS Super Tournament in 2002.

“New Star” Kang Kyung-nam (Samhwa Mutual Savings Bank) and Kang Ji-mahn began the round tied for second place and behind the leader by three shots, but Yang did not allow the tables to be turned. The two Kangs, with one victory each this year, aimed for the record of 300 million won in season prize money, the first in Korean Professional Golf history, but failed.

Yang was followed by as close as one shot when he bogeyed at the 11th hole but Kang Kyung-nam stumbled at the 13th hole (par three), scoring a double bogey with four putts while Yang saved a par. Yang decided his victory by a four meter birdie shot at the 15th hole.

The guest player, sixth place world-ranked Retief Goosen of South Africa, ranged widely from eagles to double bogeys, tying for sixth place (8-under 276), while big-hitting American Bubba Watson finished the game tied in tenth place (6-under 278) with two players including Kwon Myung-ho (Samhwa Mutual Savings Bank). Simon Yates of Scotland scored an albatross at the fifth hole (par 5) when his second shot rolled into the hole and received the prize of two million won.

ysahn@donga.com