Yang Aims for Second Victory in Row

Last year’s Korean Open champion, 35-year-old Yang Yong-eun, teed off in the same group with Vijay Singh, ranked third on the PGA money list. In the first round, Yang scored better than Singh.

On October 4, the first round of the 50th Kolon-Hana Bank Korean Open, which has a purse of one billion won, started off at the par-71 Woo Jeong Hills GC in Cheonan, Chungnam Province. Yang took sole possession of the lead by finishing with a six-under 65, with seven birdies and one bogey. Yang started with a bogie at the par-4 10th hole, but after calming down and steadying his putting, he reduced his strokes. After the round, Yang said, “I did not know what to do after bogeying the starting hole, but after getting a birdie at the next hole, I played more comfortably.”

Singh, who has 31 career PGA wins, finished second, one stroke behind Yang, with five birdies and no bogeys. At the beginning of the round, he had already cut his score by four strokes, and was expected to take the lead, but later in the course he had trouble with short putts and concluded by adding only one more birdie at the par-5 eighth hole. Visiting Korea for the first time in 12 years since 1995 when he won the Passport Open, Singh commented, “The course setting has improved a lot since the last time I came here. There are better players and more of them.”

Kim Gyeong-tae, a promising rookie who is going for his fourth win of the season, also played in the same group as Yang and Singh. With five birdies and one bogey, he hit a 4-under-par 67, and is one stroke behind Singh. If he wins this tournaments and the 300 million won prize, his earnings will surpass 700 million won, placing him at the top of the money list this season. Kim said, “I learned a lot. And most of all I realized that I need to increase the distance of my shots.” Singh, Yang, and other long-hitting players average about 300 yards on their driver shots, but Kim, who plays a more precise game, hits only about 270 yards.

Last year’s money leader Kang Gyeong-nam is tied with Kim at 4-under 67.

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