The 59th Kolon Korea Open Golf Tournament (Total prize : USD 1.2M / Winner : USD 300K) was started on September 8th at Woo Jeong Hills C.C. in Cheon-an.
Everyone played very closely from the beginning. Not only Kyung-hoon Lee, last year's winner, and Jin-ho Choi, the second highest Money List in KPGA, but Soon-sang Hong, Joong-gon Hwang, Young-soo Kim, Jong-ryul Seok were tied at the top of the leaderboard with 6-under 65.
Significantly, Kyung-hoon Lee's performance was very impressive. Last year, He won the KPGA Money List after the winning of 58th Kolon Korea Open and played at PGA Web.com, but he returned without any remarkable result. He said, "This is my first tournament in Korea this year since the the 58th Kolon Korea Open. It's exactly a year ago," and also said, "I feel good with my plays as last year. Shots and puttings are nice, and I take many opportunities."
Kyung-hoon Lee shot 5 birdies and 1 bogey for 4-under 67 in the second round and became the leader with 10-under 132 as accumulative. The runner up, Chang-woo Lee and Joong-gon Hwan, chased the leader very closely with one shot behind.
Right after the second round, In-hoe Huh asked his girlfriend to marry. He said, "I've never said I love you to my girlfriend, so I planned this event. I'll try my best to be happy with both my family and golf.
Kyung-hoon Lee kept his position in the third round. He shot 3-under 68 and 13-under 200 as a total. During the interview, he said, "I will try not to miss any birdie chance, " and "I believe I grew up myself through the PGA Web.com tour last year, so I can expect a great result if I keep concentrate on my plays."
However, Kyung-nam Kang chased the leader closely. He started the third round for fifth place, but he stood on the second alone at the end of this round with 7 birdies for 12-under 201 even though he hit 3 bogies. He said, "I get rid of my greed while I was playing at JGTO after finishing military duty. Especially, I focused on swinging smoothly instead of power swing." And, said, "I think I'm able to try win this game, but I will just play as what I am."
Kyung-hoon Lee wrote a history in the final round of the 59th Kolon Korean Open. He won the tournament again with scoring 3-under 68 and a total of 16-under 268. This was the first time since Sang-moon Bae won the two consecutive tournament in 2008 - 2009. Jin-ho Choi and Kyung-nam Kang chased the title until the end, but it's not enough.
Kyung-hoon Lee said, "I am very happy to win consecutive tournaments. Especially, I was very nervous when Jin-ho Choi chaing me, but I am very happy that I am able to win after a tough competition. Woo-jeong Hills and Kolon Korea Open are miraculous courses and competitions for me. It is a tournament that helps me to get rid of me on the edge of a cliff since my amateur."