Lee Kyung-hoon (31, CJ Korea Express) from the national team won the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou and won the Korea Open, the most prestigious event on the Korean Tour, in 2015-2016, making his name as a signboard runner. He was recognized for his skills in Japan to the extent that he won the prize money of the Korean Tour in 2015 and won one win each on the Japan Professional Golf Tour (JGTO) in 2012 and 2015. So, after the second part of the PGA Tour in 2016, he made his dream debut on the regular tour in 2018. However, the wall on the world stage was high and the championship was almost impossible to get. After hard work, Kyung-Hoon Lee rose to the top at AT&T Byron Nelson, his 80th appearance in May last year, and enjoyed the thrill of his first victory with his full-term wife.
Kyung-hoon Lee once again lifted the trophy at AT&T Byron Nelson (total prize money of $9.1 million), becoming the first Korean player to win two consecutive PGA Tour titles. In the final 4 rounds of the tournament held at TPC Craig Ranch (par 72, 7468 yards) in McKinney, Texas, USA on the 16th, Kyung-Hoon Lee wielded an eagle and 7 birdies without a bogey and hit a 9-under 63. With a final total of 26-under 262, Kyung-hoon Lee achieved two career victories by one stroke over ‘Golden Boy’ Jordan Spieth (29, USA), who had 13 victories at RBC Heritage last month. The prize money for the winner is 16,388,000 dollars (about 2.1 billion won). Kyung-hoon Lee said, “I have a lot of difference in strokes with the best players, so I started the game with an empty mind.
Above all, it is meaningful in that we won a competition in which a large number of star-level players were dispatched. Kyung-Hoon Lee, who finished the final round with a tie for 6th, 4 shots behind the lead, showed concentration by hitting 4 birdies up to the 6th hole (par 4) and jumped into the lead competition at once. Kyung-Hoon Lee, who put a 15m long birdie putt on the 2nd hole (par 4), took the lead with a birdie on the 6th hole (par 4).
The highlight is the 12th hole (par 5). Kyung-hoon Lee, who was one shot behind the lead, took a shot with a 4-iron 1.5 m with 242 yards left, and then caught an eagle to become the sole leader. On the 13th hole (par 4), Lee Kyung-hoon, who gained momentum, took the lead by two strokes with a birdie putt of about 4.5 meters. However, as the top athletes such as Spieth and Hideki Matsuyama (30, Japan), who became the first Asian national to win the Masters in 2021, and Xander Shopale (29, USA), the gold medalist at the Tokyo Olympics, continued to pursue a tough match. continued to the end. On the 17th hole (par 3), which was ahead by one stroke, Kyung-Hoon Lee faced a risk of losing at-bats as his tee shot was placed on the chin of a bunker around the green, but he succeeded in a par save, while the Spieth, played in the back group, had a birdie putt at a distance of 2.8 m. When it failed, the victory was virtually decisive. After passing the hurdle, Kyung-Hoon Lee succeeded in birding on the 18th hole (par 5) and completed an exhilarating comeback victory by one stroke away from Spieth, who caught the birdie on the same hole. After winning this competition last year, Lee Kyung-hoon, who had not been able to achieve as much as a tie for 6th place at the 3M Open in July last year was the only top 10 result, but this day’s victory gave him strength again. In particular, the prospect of the second major event of the season, the PGA Championship, which will start on the 19th (local time), has also been brightened.