Shin wins season finale on KPGA Korean Tour…Grand Prize goes to Ham Jeong-woo

Shin Sang-hoon has won the final event of the 2023 season on the Korea Professional Golf (KPGA) Korean Tour.

Shin shot a 4-under 69 with five birdies and three bogeys on the final day of the KPGA Korean Tour’s LG Signature Players Championship ($1.3 billion in prize money) at Seowon Valley Country Club (par-71, 7,000 yards) in Paju, Gyeonggi-do, on Wednesday.

With a final total of 8-under-par 276, Shin won the championship by 26,423,384 won after a playoff with Jeon Sung-hyun and Lee Jae-kyung.

Lee Jae-kyung was the first to be eliminated in the first extended playoff on the 18th hole (par-4), and Shin sank a 3-meter birdie putt in the third to end the match.

Shin now has two career victories after winning the KPGA Championship last June.

Shin, who was born in 1998, was especially happy to win his last tournament before his enlistment in early December.

“I confirmed my enlistment about a month ago, and I think I got a good result because I played with the idea that this is the beginning, not the end,” he said in a post-match TV interview, adding, “I will come back and show a new face after I finish my military service.”

Jeon, who was trying to win his first career title, had to settle for second place after his 3.3-meter birdie putt on the third extension went wide right. He finished runner-up at the Bizplay Korea Open in September last year.

With this tournament, Ham topped the Genesis Order of Merit points list for the 2023 season of the KPGA Korean Tour.

Finishing in a tie for fourth place with a final total of 7-under-par 277, the winner of the Genesis Grand Prize will receive a bonus prize of $100 million, a Genesis car, five years of tour seeding, direct entry into the final round of the PGA Tour Qualifying School, and one year of DP World Tour seeding.

Park Sang-hyun took home the top prize. Park earned $782.17 million in season earnings, surpassing Han Seung-soo’s $745.9 million.

However, he failed to surpass the KPGA Korean Tour season earnings record of 790.13 million won set by Kim Young-soo last year.

Park also won the Deokchun Award, which is given to the player with the best scoring average, with a 69.83 stroke average for the 토토 season.

The Rookie of the Year award was already decided before the tournament.

Born in 1986, Park became the oldest rookie in KPGA Korean Tour history to win the award (37 years, 5 months).