Published on June 19, 2024

Seungsu Han did not start the 65^th Kolon Korea Open on anyone’s radar but he really should have. Story from the 2023 Asian Tour Yearbook.

He’d won big before, at the Casio World Open in Japan in 2017, and the 2020 LG Signature Players Championship on the Korean PGA Tour.

And although it was some years ago, he had also been a serious player in the amateur game, attending the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and winning the 2006 Porter Cup – a long-standing, prestigious amateur event in the United States won by some of the game’s biggest names, including Phil Mickelson, David Duval and Ben Crenshaw.

So, when he claimed the jewel in the crown of Korean golf after recording an astonishing start-to-finish victory it perhaps should not have been such a surprise.

For the fourth day on the trot, hot and sunny conditions prevailed at Woo Jeong Hills Country Club, but the 36-year-old stayed cool and handled the pressure of front running from the-get-go to close with an even-par 71 for a six-under-par winning total and a commanding six-shot triumph over Korea’s Kyungnam Kang, who also carded a 71.

Last year Seungsu Han became the 12th wire-to-wire winner of the event.

Korean Seungbin Choi claimed third, a shot further back, after shooting a 68 – the best round of the day, and one of only two sub-70 rounds – on the fantastic but formidable Woo Jeong Hills track, just over an hour outside of the capital Seoul.

Han’s magnificent triumph also allowed him to secure one of the two spots on offer for The Open at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in July. Kang, an 11-time winner on the Korean PGA Tour, took the other place.

Any doubts that Han, who started Sunday with a slim one-shot lead over Korean Jaekyeong Lee, would succumb to the pressure were soon put to rest on the front nine when he made the turn with a five-shot lead.

It was just the cushion he was looking for despite an up-and-down front nine, consisting of three birdies and two bogeys. His lead was seven at one point on the back nine with the rest of the field going backwards while he was coasting.

He averted potential disaster on the par-four 15th after a wayward tee-shot left saw his ball finish in a terrible lie – in long, thick grass. Bravely opting not to take a drop he hit an explosive recovery shot back into play, reached the green with his third and to the roar of the crowd holed a 30-footer for an astonishing par save – affirming this was most certainly his week, and the greatest of his career at that point.

Han and Kyungnam Kang both made it through to The Open.

His lead was cut to six on the ensuing hole after a bogey and by the 18th he was five ahead; he put the icing on the cake by holing a six-foot birdie putt on the testing par-five final hole, which was surrounded by huge, patriotic galleries.

“This is such a great honour,” said Han, whose western name is Steve.

“I was really struggling with foot pains and my throat wasn’t good either, so it was tremendously challenging.  I hardly looked at the scores, maybe a few times. I didn’t look at it on purpose. It was about being mentally strong and my putting was great, I holed some long ones.

“I first started playing golf in Korea when I was 13, so the Korea Open means a lot to me. I think it is the best tournament in Korea.”

Born in Incheon, Korea, he moved to the United States when he was 13. He still lives there and first started to play in Asia back in 2010, enjoying most of his success in Japan.

Remarkably he was the only player to finish under par, and for his fine effort he earned a cheque for US$222,222.

He became the 12th wire-to-wire winner of the tournament, and the seventh American to win after Ricky Fowler (2011), Edward Loar (2004), John Daly (2003), Mike Cunning (1994), Scott Hoch (1990 and 1991), and Orville Moody, who won the first three editions of the event starting in 1958.

Han’s six-shot winning margin also matched the record set by Fowler, based on records going back to 1996.

Making it through to The Open marked the second time he had played in a Major. He missed the cut there, unlike at the PGA Championship in 2018.

Seungsu Han.

Defending champion Minkyu Kim of Korea returned a 73 to tie for fourth on two-over-par with countrymen Dongmin Lee, Jaekyeong Lee and Junghwan Lee, and Australian Brendan Jones – winner of the New Zealand Open earlier in the season.