Champagne on Ice for Korean PGA Tour Hopeful
Huntsville, Alabama, United States: Kim Seong-hyeong need to wait another week before he can pop the champagne. The 23-year-old Korean inched closer to the 900-point threshold the Korn Ferry Tour is using as its fail-safe for players to earn their...
Huntsville, Alabama, United States: Kim Seong-hyeong needs to wait another week before he can pop the champagne.
The 23-year-old Korean inched closer to the 900-point threshold the Korn Ferry Tour is using as its fail-safe for players to earn their PGA Tour cards after finishing in a three-way tie for sixth place at the Huntsville Championship on Sunday.
He needed to finish in a two-way tie for sixth or better to surpass the threshold and narrowly missed his target with a final round of even-par 70 to finish on eight-under 272 – eight strokes behind victorious Harrison Endycott.
Like Australian Endycott, Kim played in the 2017 edition of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC). While Endycott finished tied 10th at New Zealand’s Royal Wellington Golf Club, Kim missed the half-way in what proved to be his only appearance in the region’s premier amateur event.
A graduate from Qualifying School last year, Kim, who has won once each on the Korean Tour and Japan Golf Tour, fell 0.89 points shy of the threshold and now needs to only make the cut and finish another event to put his hands on one of the 25 PGA Tour cards on offer during the Korn Ferry Tour Regular Season.
Compatriot An Byeong-hun missed the half-way cut at The Ledges course and will also have to wait to the next tournament to secure his PGA Tour return. He had needed to finish in a two-way tie for 35th place or better to reach the 900-point mark.
After opening with a 64, China's Marty Dou Zecheng carded a third successive 70 to finish on six-under in tied 13th place and solidified his position in the Top-25 ranking in 11th position. The 25-year-old is looking to join countryman Carl Yuan on the PGA Tour next year. Yuan is already PGA Tour-bound following one win and three top-10s this season.
Dou made three appearances in the AAC. In 2012, he tied for 18th at Thailand’s Amata Spring Country Club; in 2013 he was joint fourth at China’s Nanshan International Golf Club and in 2014 he shared fifth place at Royal Melbourne Golf Club.
