‘Korea’s Yon-Ram’ with star qualities… The first victory in my life was ‘Korea’s Masters’
Nothing could stop the monster long hitter, equipped with sophistication and full of desire to win. Jeong Chan-min, who overcame the burden of winning the first championship in his life and showed near-perfect performance for three days, embraced the 42nd GS Caltex Maekyung Open (total prize money of 1.3 billion won) championship cup.
Jeong Chan-min hit a 5 under par 66 in the final 3rd round of the tournament held at Namseoul CC (par 71) in Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do on the 7th. Jeong Chan-min, who recorded a total of 16 under par and 197 strokes, beat national players Song Min-hyuk and Lee Jung-hwan, who tied for second place, by 6 strokes.
Jeong Chan-min, who tasted the thrill of reaching the top for the first time in his life at the ‘Korean Masters’ GS Caltex Maekyung Open, received 300 million won as the prize money for the championship. He also received special injuries. With this win, Jung Chan-min will be able to play the Asian Tour and the Korean Professional Golf Association (KPGA) Korean Tour for 2 years and 5 years, respectively.
Jung Chan-min, who debuted on the Korean tour last year as a member of the national team, was almost unable to participate in this tournament. This is because he failed to make his name within the 65th place in the Korean Tour category, which is a qualification requirement, and performed poorly in the GS Caltex Maekyung Open qualifier held last month. Fortunately, as the players in the previous order gave up, Jeong Chan-min, who was number 72, also had a chance to participate.
Jung Chan-min, who managed to participate, showed his potential by driving 8 under par from the first day. He didn’t budge on the second day either. Jeong Chan-min recorded a double bogey with his tee shot wide left in the first hole, but calmly reduced the number of strokes and finished the second round with a solo lead by two strokes.
As the third round was canceled due to bad weather, the tournament was reduced to 54 holes. Taking a day off and recharging, Jeong Chan-min started the final day’s match in the champion group. His face was full of confidence as he stood on the teeing ground for the 1st hole.
Full of confidence that he could win, Jeong Chan-min snatched his first birdie on the 3rd hole. In the par 5 4th hole, a shot worthy of being considered the best shot of the 42nd GS Caltex Maekyung Open came out. Jung Chan-min put the third shot from the bunker on the left side of the green in one shot, widening the gap with the 2nd place to 6 strokes. It was a relaxed situation, but there was no word of carelessness in Jung Chan-min’s head. He took two consecutive birdies on the 8th and 9th holes to take a step closer to winning the championship.
Jeong Chan-min, who continued his par march in the second half, entered the 16th hole, the beginning of the three holes of Namseoul CC E. The 16th hole, which is normally run as a par 5 but changes to a par 4 during the GS Caltex Maekyung Open, is so difficult that it was considered the most difficult hole in the men’s professional golf tournament held in Korea last year.메이저놀이터
However, this was not the case for Jeong Chan-min, who easily flew 300m. Jung Chan-min, who passed the fairway bunker at 340m from the teeing ground, caught the par without much difficulty. He also had a perfect finish. Jeong Chan-min calmly recorded pars on the 17th and 18th holes to confirm the championship. From the first day to the last day, Jung Chan-min, who won the wire-to-wire championship without giving up a single lead, held his right hand tightly.
Jeong Chan-min said, “I didn’t expect to reach the top at the GS Caltex Maekyung Open, the best golf tournament in Korea. I still can’t believe that I won the first championship in my life.” I am happy to be able to present the championship,” he said with a smile.
It was clever play that led Chan-min Jeong to the championship. Freed from the compulsion to hit the ball far, Jeong Chan-min transformed from a bear into a fox and conquered Namseoul CC. Jeong Chan-min explained, “It’s okay to be called a short hitter, so he wanted to win. He didn’t hit a driver unconditionally and chose woods and irons according to the situation.” In March, he said that losing the right to participate in the US Professional Golf (PGA) Korn Ferry Tour by missing the cut at the Chile Classic in Astara, Chile was the medicine. “I realized the importance of playing according to the course in Chile last March,” said Chan-min Jung.