Young-gun, who had never won a championship, smiled with a strategic choice in front of the old veteran. Go Gun-taek (24, Daebo Engineering & Construction) reached the top for the first time since his professional debut.
Ko Gun-taek scored 7 under par in the 4th round of the 2023 Korea Men’s Professional Golf (KPGA) Korean Tour DB Insurance Promi Open (total prize money of 700 million won) held at the Old Course (par 72, 7178 yards) at the Riebel Country Club in Chuncheon, Gangwon-do on the 16th. With 65 strokes and a final total of 20 under par, 268 strokes, he won Park Sang-hyun (40, Dong-A Pharmaceutical, 18 under par, 270 strokes) by two strokes and stood at the top.
It is his first thrilling victory in his 49th tournament, 4 years after his professional debut. This year, the 18th DB Insurance Promi Open broke records for the lowest number of strokes and the most under par. The previous record was 19 under par 269 at the 2017 tournament held at Daeyu Montver CC.
Go Gun-taek, who played an active part in the national team in 2016 and as a standing army the following year, debuted on the KPGA Korean Tour in 2020 after passing through the 2019 KPGA Korean Tour Qualifying Tournament (QT). Since then, he has not been able to achieve the results he deserves, and he recorded 13 under par until the 3rd round. However, he enjoyed the best moment of his life with a completely different performance in the second half.
Go Gun-taek, who harvested a birdie from the 10th hole (par 4) in the second half, made three consecutive birdies from the 13th hole and ran toward the championship. Go Gun-taek, who made a birdie on the 13th hole with a bladed iron shot 2m inside the hole cup, sent a tee shot to the center of the fairway on the 14th hole (par 4) and then sent an iron shot 1m away from the hole to reduce one stroke.
Hole 15 (par 5) was the highlight of the day. Go Gun-taek, who landed his tee shot on the fairway nearly 300 yards, chose a strategy of cutting off with an iron. On the other hand, Park Sang-hyun, who was co-leader with 18 under par, aimed straight for the green with a wood, but missed the green and had to be satisfied with the par because he could not get close to the approach. Seo Yo-seop, who fell to third place after committing a bogey on the 13th hole, also made an aggressive choice, but could not reduce the number of strokes with a par. 토토사이트
Park Sang-hyun reduced one stroke in the 16th hole (par 4), but his iron tee shot fell into the rough in the 17th hole (par 3), and afterwards he made a bogey and lowered his head. Ko Gun-taek hit a tee shot 2m inside the hole cup on the 17th hole, and ran away with one more stroke to virtually confirm the championship. In the 18th hole (par 4), Park Sang-hyun caught up with one stroke, but Go Gun-taek kept the number of strokes and won the thrilling championship by two strokes. He also received 140 million won in prize money. Colleagues added to the joy of Go Gun-taek’s champion putt with water baptism.
Park Sang-hyun, who was aiming for a second consecutive victory in the tournament, lowered his head in the second half bogey. Seo Yo-seop, who was aiming for the wire-to-wire championship, also had a bad putt on the 13th hole and a double bogey when his tee shot on the 16th hole went out of bounds (OB).