Tournament Information

• Tournament: Shinhan Donghae Open
• Venue: Ocean Course at Club 72, Incheon, Korea
• Date: September 5-8, 2024
• Purse: KRW1,400,000,000 (approximately US$1,043,646)
• Asian Tour leg: 11th event of 2024 season
• Edition of tournament: 40th
• Total number of players: 138
• Format: 72-hole stroke play with a cut made after two rounds. Leading 65 pros plus ties make it through to the weekend
• Social Media Hashtags: #TimeToRise #ShinhanDonghaeOpen

Past champions and leading players this week gathered for a photo call yesterday.

Field Breakdown

• Order of Merit winners: Sihwan Kim (2022), Jazz Janewattananond (2019)
• Nationalities: 12
• Past winners of tournament in the field: Guntaek Koh (2023), Kazuki Higa (2022), Yoseop Seo (2021), Hanbyeol Kim (2020), Jbe Kruger (2019), Sanghyun Park (2018), Richard T. Lee (2017), Gaganjeet Bhullar (2016), Hyunwoo Ryu (2009)
• Defending champion: Guntaek Koh (KOR) [main picture]
• Top contenders: Steve Lewton (ENG), Seungtaek Lee (KOR), Richard T. Lee (CAN), Minkyu Kim (KOR), Travis Smyth (AUS), Kensei Hirata (JPN), Guntaek Koh (KOR), Phachara Khongwatmai (THA), Ryo Ishikawa (JPN)
• Highest ranked player on OWGR: Kensei Hirata (JPN) #181
• Highest ranked player on 2024 Asian Tour Order of Merit: Minkyu Kim (KOR) #6
• No. of amateurs: 1
• No. of Korean players in the field: 62

Last week’s winner Steve Lewton is here this week.

Tournament notes

• Englishman Steve Lewton is fresh of his win in Jakarta last week, his second Asian Tour victory after a winless period since the 2014 Mercuries Taiwan Masters. He also has two other top 10s this season, finishing tied ninth at the IRS Prima Malaysian Open and tied 10th at the Kolon Korea Open.
• Australian Travis Smyth again had a good tournament in Indonesia last week finishing tied fourth, his fourth top-10 of the season to go along with a tied fifth at the International Series Morocco, a tied ninth at the IRS Prima Malaysian Open and a tied 10th at the International Series Oman. Currently 11th on the Asian Tour Order of Merit.
• Defending champion Guntaek Koh of Korea has already posted one win on the Korean PGA Tour this season after he won the KPGA Founders Cup in a play-off against fellow Korean Seungtaek Lee. Koh also finished runner up in the Gate Way To The Open Mizuno Open on the Japan Tour in late May, earning him a ticket to The Open at Royal Troon.
• Seungtaek Lee from Korea won the Lexus Masters last week on the Korean PGA Tour and he also has a runner up, a tied third and three other top 10s on his home circuit to currently sit in third place in KPGA’s Gensis Point Rankings. The Asian Tour member has a tied 13th in the International Series England as his best result on the Asian Tour this season.
• Japan’s Kensei Hirata also won the weather shortened (to 36 holes) Fujisankei Classic on his domestic tour, the Japan Golf Tour, last week and currently sits in fourth place on that tour’s Reward Ranking money list. It was the 2023 Japan PGA Championship winner’s second win of the season in Japan, and he has also posted four other top 10s during his 2024 campaign in Japan.
• Japanese star Ryo Ishikawa is also here this week. He won the Japan Players’ Championship in June, for his 19^th win on the Japan Golf Tour and first since in two years.

Japanese star Ryo Ishikawa is here chasing his second victory of 2024.

• Richard T. Lee from Canada won the Shinhan Donghae Open in 2017, and he has been a consistent high performer on the Asian Tour in 2024. Lee narrowly missed the play-off at this year’s GS Caltex Maekyung Open and has one more top 10 on the Asian Tour this season, placing eighth at the International Series Macau presented by Wynns.  In six outings the Canadian has no missed cuts and a tied 22nd as his worst result.
• Dual member (KPGA and Asian Tour) Minkyu Kim is the highest-ranking Asian Tour player in the field this week at sixth on the Order of Merit, mainly thanks to his Kolon Korean Open win in June. He’s also ranked second in the KPGA Tour’s Genesis Points list after the Kolon Korea Open win, plus his victory at the Descente Korea Matchplay in early June.
• The event is tri-sanctioned by the Asian, Japan and Korean Tours.