Korean Golfer in His 70s Wins Again

Is age nothing but a meaningless set of digits on the golf field?

A Korean resident in his 70s living in Hawaii is attracting public interest as he recently won an amateur golf tournament. His name is Kim Su-gil (71, English name: Bernie Kim), born in the 1930s as a son of an immigrant who worked in the sugar cane farms of Hawaii.

In the 56th Korean Invitational Tournament, which boasts its time-honored tradition in Hawaii, he won the winner’s trophy with the total score of 14 over par and 158 strokes. Although it was the biggest number of strokes among the winners in the tournament’s history, an endless applause was given to the sturdy senior who newly became the eldest title-holder.

He won the trophy of this tournament eleven times throughout his career—three times in the 60s, four times in the 70s, twice in the 80s once in the 90s and once again this time in the new millennium. This means that his winning career expands itself over almost a half a century.

He said he first taught himself golf when he was 10. His handicap number was once one, but now, it is maintained at 10. Kim said that, “It is true that it gets tougher to golf as I get older, but I don’t want to surrender myself to the fact that I’m 71. I’ll keep golfing until I can no longer walk.”

kjs0123@donga.com