Gochim Sports Forgotten Genius Youngsoo Choi KPGA Korean Tour Choi…

“Forgotten Genius” Kim Young-soo, Best Player of KPGA Korean Tour “Standing”
Won the LG Signature Players Championship in the final match of the season and won the “Grand Prize + Prize Money King”

Kim Young-soo (33) won the season finale of the KPGA Korean Tour with a comeback victory, simultaneously winning the king of prize money and the grand Genesis prize, transforming himself from a “forgotten genius” into a “best player”.

Kim Young-soo won the LG Signature Players Championship (total prize 1.3 billion won) held at Seowon Valley Golf Club (par 72) in Paju-si, Gyeonggi-do on the 13th by beating Han Seung-soo (USA ) in overtime on the last day.

Kim Young-soo and Han Seung-soo had combined 24 under par and 264 hits, so they couldn’t decide the game, so they went into overtime.

Kim Young-soo shot a 6-under-par 66 without a bogey in the final round, and Han Seung-soo reduced by 4 strokes.

In the third overtime at the 18th hole (par 4), Kim Young-soo put his second shot within 1.5m of the hole and caught a birdie to end the long play.

Kim Young-soo, who won the first championship of his life at the Genesis Championship on the 9th of last month, held the second championship trophy in a month.

With the win, Kim Young-soo moved up to the first place in Genesis points, which was the second place, and received the prize money of 260 million won, moving up to the top of the prize money table, which was the third place (793.2 million won) .

Kim Young-soo surpassed the largest prize pool of the Korean tour season (700,079,600,000 won) set by Park Sang-hyun (39) in 2018.

Along with the honor of the king of prize money, Kim Young-soo made this season splendid by receiving generous bonuses, such as a 5-year Korean Tour seed given to the winner of the Genesis Grand Prix, a bonus prize of 100 million won, a Genesis car and a ticket to the DP World Tour (formerly European Pro Golf Tour) next year.

Kim Young-soo, who was the strongest in Korea during his junior days, is a splendid comeback.

In 2007, he was a “golf genius” who was praised for having “no opponent” by winning major amateur competitions such as Songambae, Ikseongbae and Heo Jeonggubae.

However, on the pro stage in 2011, Kim Young-soo slowly disappeared from fans’ memories.

He struggled all the way in the Korean tour and failed to show any significant results in the Japan Professional Golf Tour and Asian Professional Golf Tour, and he didn’t even keep his tour card.

In 2018, he became the winner of KPGA 2nd Challenge Tour and returned to Korean Tour in 2019, but he was just an average player with no outstanding achievements.

On the 9th of last month, Kim Young-soo raised the flag of a brilliant comeback to win the Genesis Championship.

The Genesis Championship is a special event with the largest prize pool on the Korean tour.

Kim Young-soo received the 300 million won prize money and rose to second place in the Genesis Grand Prize.

Kim Young-soo, who took 3rd place in the Golfzon and Toray Opens that followed and chased after Seo Yo-seop (26), 1st place in the Genesis Grand Prize competition, won again and finally got the Genesis Grand Prize.

In the last three competitions of the season, there is a frightening upward trend of ‘win-third place-win’.

Kim Young-soo added the joy of reducing by one stroke the victory (265 strokes) achieved by Kim Bio (32) last year.

Kim Yeong-soo, who entered the final round in second place with two strokes over leader Han Seung-soo (USA), started the chase by gaining a joint lead with consecutive birdies on the 2nd and 3rd holes.

Han Seung-soo escaped again with two shots with consecutive birdies on the 4th and 5th holes, but Kim Young-soo’s pursuit was relentless.

Kim Young-soo made up a one-stroke difference with a birdie on the 11th hole (par 4).

Kim Young-soo, who caught a 5-meter birdie on the 14th hole (par 4), overtook Han Seung-soo, who failed to make a 2-meter par putt, to take the lead for the first time in the day.

Kim Young-soo cut another shot on the 15th hole (par 4) to beat Han Seung-soo by two strokes.

However, Han Seung-soo was not at ease.

Han Seung-soo, who again closed the gap by one stroke with a birdie on the 16th hole (par 5), added a birdie on the 18th hole (par 4) to push the game into overtime.

In the first overtime on the 18th hole, the pair tied with a par, and the second overtime was a birdie.

Han Seung-soo, who won the championship for the first time in his life in this competition in 2020, had to settle for second place, unable to clear the last hurdle by drinking high blood in the third overtime.

Hwang Do-yeon (29) took 3rd place (21 under par, 267 strokes), while last year’s champion Kim Bio took 4th place (20 under par, 268 strokes), saving the face.

Kim Min-gyu (21), who had held first place in the prize money standings for more than four months prior to this tournament, finished the season in second place in the prize money standings after being tied for 17 3rd place (11 under par, 277 shots) with a 2 over-par 74 shot.

/yunhap news