After winning the Shinhan Donghae Open, Ko Gun-taek (24, Daebo Construction) became the first Korean Tour player in five years to win three titles in a season.
Ko won the 39th Shinhan Donghae Open at Club 72CC in Yeongjong, Incheon, on Tuesday, defeating Pachara Kongwatmai (Thailand) in an extended playoff to take home 252 million won.
It is the first time in five years that Ko has won three titles in a season. After winning his first title at the season-opening DB Insurance PromiOpener in July, Go won the Honors K-Solago CC Hanjang Sang Invitational and continued his run to the top of the leaderboard, becoming the first player in five years to win three titles since Park Sang-hyun in 2018.
It is the first time in 16 years that a player in his 20s has won three titles in a season. Previously, in 2007, Kim Kyung-tae (then 21) and Kang Kyung-nam (then 24) caused a stir by winning three titles side by side in their 20s.
Now, Go Gun-taek will attempt to break the record of four wins in a season held only by Choi Sang-ho (1985, 1986, 1991, 1992).
After the tournament, Go commented on his three wins, “I feel really good. It’s especially meaningful because it was a co-organized tournament with the Japan Tour and Asian Tour.”
On how he reached his peak form in his fourth year, he said, “I’ve been in contention for the championship many times, but I couldn’t get there. “Actually, the first win in the opening match was the hardest, but after that, I realized that when you are in the lead and competing for the championship, you can enjoy it. I think that’s why I was able to win two and then three,” he smiled.
On his fellow Thailand player, Pachara Kongwatmai, he said, “Kongwatmai played really well today. After I made the par putt, I thought, ‘This is not easy’. After that, I realized that if I didn’t make the birdie putt, I could lose, so I tried to concentrate as much as I could.” “The tiebreaker was on a par-5, so I told myself that I had to make the birdie. My birdie putt was about two meters. I don’t think 토토사이트 there was any particular reason why I was strong in overtime, I just played my best shot after shot after shot, and I think I got a good result.”
For his win, Ko earned a two-year seeding on the Japan Tour and Asian Tour. “Actually, I submitted my enlistment application to the military last week. As I’ve been saying all along, I was planning to enlist in the military after this season,” he said. “But because I won this tournament, I got a five-year domestic seed, and I’m eligible to play on the Japan Tour and Asian Tour. I don’t know what to do now. I’ll have to think about it,” he explained.