On the first day of the KB Financial Live Championship, Han-mil Han led 5 under par, Tae-hoon Ok tied for 2nd place, Gase, and Sang-hyun Park tied for 8th
Lee Tae-hee hits a tee shot on the 12th hole on the first day of the KB Financial Reeve Championship. photo courtesy of KPGA
[아시아경제 김현준 골프전문기자] Lee Tae-hee (36)’s ‘Birthday Spurt’.
On the 26th, the Korea Professional Golf (KPGA) Korean Tour KB Financial Live Championship (total prize of 700 million won), which opened at Blackstone Icheon Golf Course (par 72, 7260 yards) in Icheon-si, Gyeonggi-do, smashed a 4-under par, and tied for second place. Han-mil Han (31) leads the 5-under par, Tae-hoon Ok (24), Yo-seop Seo (26, DB Insurance), and Yun-ho Bae (29) are tied for second place. ‘Match King’ Park Eun-shin (32) is looking at ‘2 wins in a row’ in a tie for 8th at 2-under.
Taehee Lee tied 7 birdies, 1 bogey, and 1 double bogey. She made three consecutive birdies from the 10th hole (par 4) to the 12th hole (par 4), thinned out ‘stepping stone birdies’ on the 14th and 16th holes, and thinned out consecutive birdies again on the 1st and 2nd holes in the second half. The 4th hole (par 4) bogey and the 7th hole (par 3) double bogey at the end were rather disappointing. “It’s been a long time since I’ve felt the shot,” she said, cheering, “I’m satisfied with a score of 4 under par on the course.”
Lee Tae-hee is a player who has harvested four career victories, including two consecutive losses at the 2019-2020 Maekyung Open. She got even more spotlight by marrying her manager, Bo-Min Kwon. Her wife still manages everything from health care to sponsorship contracts and schedules. She said, “It’s my birthday today, so I think the seaweed soup that her wife cooked in the morning helped me.” She added, “Tomorrow, strong winds are forecast, so we will need to play to protect them.”
Tae-Hoon Ok started the Munsingwear Match Play ‘Hanpuri’, which ended on the 22nd. He swept ‘Pajuk’s 6th straight victories’, but finished 3rd in points behind other players in the group. ‘DB Non-life Insurance Promi Open Champ’ Park Sang-hyeon (39, Dong-A Pharmaceutical) joined Park Eun-shin’s ‘2 win competition’ in the joint eighth group. Defending champion Moon Kyung-jun (40·NH Nonghyup Bank) is tied for 84th with 4-over par, and ‘Woori Finance Champ’ Jang Hee-min (20) is tied for 102nd with 6-over par, so it is urgent to avoid the cut-off.
Hyeonjun Kim, golf reporter [email protected]