The Shinhan Donghae Open tees off at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club in Incheon on Thursday – with one of its strongest ever fields. The event is tri-sanctioned by the Asian, Korean, and Japan tours and the number one player on each is here this week: Zimbabwe’s Scott Vincent, Korean Taehoon Ok, and Tatsunori Shogenji from Japan, respectively.

Organisers have increased the purse by US$100,000, and it is the first time the event has been played at the highly-regarded Jack Nicklaus course since 2014. It’s an outstanding venue, that successfully hosted the President’s Cup, Asian Pacific Amateur Championship in the past and recently LIV Golf Korea earlier this year – won by Bryson DeChambeau from the United States.

The Shinhan Donghae Open also marks the start of an exciting run in until to the end of the season for the Asian Tour. Ten more events remain after this week offering over US$20 million in prize money.

This week marks the 41st staging of the Shinhan Donghae Open.

Asian Tour Order of Merit leader Scott Vincent. Picture by Steve Bardens/Asian Tour.

Tournament Information

• Tournament: The 41st Shinhan Donghae Open
• Date: 11th – 14th September, 2025
• Venue: Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea, Incheon, Korea
• Par/Yards: 72 / 7,470 yards
• Purse: KRW1,500,000,000 (approx. US$1.08 million, winner approx. US$194,500)
• Defending champion: Kensei Hirata (JPN)
• Asian Tour leg: Tenth
• Edition of tournament: 41st
• Total number of players: 138
• Format: Stroke play over four rounds with cut after 36 holes for leading 65 pros plus ties.
• The tournament is tri-sanctioned with the Korean PGA Tour and the Japan Golf Tour Organisation.
• Social media hashtags: #TimeToRise #ShinhanDonghaeOpen

Japan Tour number one Tatsunori Shogenji. Picture by Yoshimasa Nakano/Getty Images.

Field Breakdown

• Order of Merit winners: Sihwan Kim (2022), Jazz Janewattananond (2019), Scott Hend (2016)
• Nationalities: 14
• Top contenders: Scott Vincent (ZIM), Taichi Kho (HKG), Seonghyeon Kim (KOR), Richard T. Lee (CAN), Sadom Kaewkanjana (THA), Kazuki Higa (JPN), Tatsunori Shogenji (JPN), Taehoon Ok (KOR), Kazuki Higa (JPN), Tatsunori Shogenji (JPN), Suteepat Prateeptienchai (THA), Taiga Nagano (JPN), Doyeob Mun (KOR)
• Highest ranked player on OWGR: Seonghyeon Kim #145
• Highest ranked player on 2025 Asian Tour Order of Merit: Scott Vincent (ZIM) #1
• Number of amateurs: 2
• Number of Korean players in the field: 56

Tournament Notes

• Scott Vincent from Zimbabwe leads the Asian Tour Order of Merit much thanks to a win at the International Series Morocco in July, but he has also posted strong finishes such as a T4 in the Kolon Korea Open, a T8 at the Smart Infinity Philippine Open and a T10 at the International Series India presented by DLF this season. Vincent has finished second in this tournament twice before, in 2016 and 2018, although those close calls came at a different venue. In addition to his good results on the Asian Tour this season he has also posted three top-fives on the Japan Golf Tour – the most recent at the Sansan KBC Augusta Golf Tournament two weeks ago.
• Canadian Richard T. Lee won this tournament in 2017, and he also had a runner up in 2020 during Covid when the event was only sanctioned by the Korean PGA Tour. Lee had a fantastic season in 2024 finishing third on the Order of Merit, after a win at the BNI Indonesian Masters and five other top-fives. So far this season he has a fifth at the International Series Macau and a T10 at the International Series India presented by DLF as his best Asian Tour results. His impressive current cut streak on the Asian Tour now stands at 22, going all the way back to the International Series Singapore in October of 2023. On the 2025 Korean PGA Tour Lee has posted a win at the Woori Financial Group Championship, runners-up at the Dong-A Membership Exchange Group Open and SK Telecom Open, and a fourth at the Hana Bank Invitational as his best results. He is currently in second place on that tour’s Genesis Points Ranking list.
• Hong Kong’s Taichi Kho finished second in the Mandiri Indonesia Open two weeks ago and has had a strong 2025 season, currently sitting in fifth place on the Order of Merit. In addition to his runner up in Jakarta he has also posted a T4 at the Kolon Korean Open, a T6 at the International Series Macau presented by Wynn and a T10 at the International Series Morocco. The winner of the 2023 World City Championship presented by Hong Kong Golf Club looks poised to record his second Asian Tour victory soon.
• Korean Seonghyeon Kim, who played on the PGA Tour in 2023 and 2024, is currently sixth on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List after a win at the AdventHealth Championship, a runner-up at The Bahamas Golf Classic at Atlantis Paradise Island, a T2 at the Visa Argentina Open presented by Macro and two other top 10s on that tour. Although he has three missed cuts in his last four events on the Korn Ferry Tour, he should still be considered a strong contender for the title this week.
• Sadom Kaewkanjana from Thailand won the Kolon Korea Open in late May for his third Asian Tour title and helped by a T2 at the season opening Smart Infinity Philippine Open he now sits in third place on the Order of Merit. Playing on the Korean PGA Tour two weeks ago he finished T9 and he is currently leading the KPGA’s Rookie of the Year Points list.
• Korean Taehoon Ok leads the Korean Tour’s Genesis Points Ranking after two wins and five other top-fives, the latest of his wins coming at the KPGA Gunsan CC Open in late June. He is also a one-time winner on the Asian Tour, having won the 2022 International Series Korea on Jeju island.
• Japan’s Kazuki Higa started his 2025 Asian Tour campaign strong, going T8, T5 and T2 in the Smart Infinity Philippine Open, International Series India Presented by DLF and New Zealand Open presented by Sky Sports respectively, to rank ninth on the Order of Merit going into this week. Higa won this tournament in 2022 when it was played in Japan, the only time the event has ventured outside of Korea. On the Japan Tour he has recorded five top 10’s this season, including a win at the ISPS HANDA Explosion in the Summer in mid-August.
• Fellow Japanese Tatsunori Shogenji leads the Japan Tour rankings after victories at the Japan Players Championship and the Token Homemate Cup. He has also impressively recorded six other top 10’s on his home tour during the season so far. In his six Asian Tour events this year, he has a T16 at the Smart Infinity Philippine Open as his best result.
• Thailand’s Suteepat Prateeptienchai is Asian Tour’s most recent winner, having triumphed convincingly at the Mandiri Indonesia Open two weeks ago for his fourth Asian Tour title. Having gone through a rough patch to start the season with four straight missed cuts, the two-time winner in the second half of 2024 looked fully in control of his game in Jakarta, and will be looking to finish the season in the same fashion as last year.
• Doyeob Mun from Korea, who had won the GS Caltex Maekyung Open back in early May, just won the KPGA Founders Cup on the Korean Tour last week for his second title of the year. He also finished fifth the previous week on the same tour.
• Japan’s Taiga Nagano won the LOPIA Fujisankei Classic on the Japan Tour last week for his first professional title, his previous best finish had been a runner-up at the 2023 Japan Players Championship. He’s also had four other top 10’s on his home circuit in the 2025 season.
• Korean Sangmoon Bae is the only player in the field that has won this tournament on two occasions, in 2013 and 2014, and both times the event was held at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea. Of players not actively playing, his countryman Sangho Choi has posted three victories, in 1985, 1993 and 1995, when Hansung Country Club was the host venue.

Main picture. Jon Rahm in action at this year’s LIV Golf Korea – played at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club. Picture courtesy Getty Images.