Bae Sang-moon (37) was once a leading Korean golfer. After conquering the stages of Korea (9 wins) and Japan (3 wins), he also won 2 wins on the US Professional Golf (PGA) Tour, which he crossed in 2012, so-called well. However, after his military service, his skills rapidly declined as if he had hit an ‘aging curve’. There are almost no PGA Tour tournaments available now, and even on the Korn Ferry (Part 2) Tour, it is not easy for Sid to win the right to participate as he is pushed to the bottom of the list.
Bae Sang-moon confessed that he had recently written a handwritten letter. The destination is the AT&T Byron Nelson Organizing Committee, which will be held on the 11th of next month. Byron Nelson is the very tournament where Bae Sang-moon won his first PGA Tour victory in 2013. We met on the 28th at the Jack Nicklaus GC in Songdo, Incheon where the DP World Tour Korea Championship was held, and he said, “As a former champion, I said that I really wanted to play in a match, and (Byron Nelson) was happy to invite me.”
A&T Byron Nelson, with a total prize pool of $9.5 million, is named after golf legend Byron Nelson, who won five major championships. With a history so deep that it was launched in 1944, it is a big event that many top rankers want to participate in, even if it is not a ‘special level competition’. From the standpoint of the organizers of such a tournament, they have no choice but to carefully select the players to invite. Bae Sang-moon, who spread her hands wide up and down, laughed, saying, “This much ‘letter’ (about the size of my open hand) piles up every year.
Bae Sang-moon said of the sluggish past few years, “I think I spent golf and boredom.” The opportunity to escape from such boredom was the Asian Tour International Series, which I accidentally found out that I had the right to participate. Bae Sang-moon said, “It was really nice and new to play with the Asian Tour players I knew while traveling to distant places such as Qatar and Oman.”
Bae Sang-moon made the cut with a tie for 32nd place at 2 under par, showing good results in Korea, a long-awaited visit. It is not impossible to win a come-from-behind victory as it is 6 strokes behind the joint lead group. ㅋㅋㅋ벳
In particular, the highlight of the day was the 18th hole (par 5) called the ‘Baesangmun Hall’. Bae Sang-moon made the mistake of hitting the ground eight years ago on the final day of the 2015 Presidents Cup while attempting a “bump and run” shot in a single match play. The international team’s draw was blown away by this mistake. On this day, I hit the third shot from a similar position, and attached it 1m next to the hole to make a birdie. Bae Sang-moon laughed, saying, “When the ball landed in a similar place (as in the Presidents Cup), I told my caddy, ‘I have to get revenge today.’
Rain is predicted for the third round, but Bae Sang-moon said, “I think the rain forecast is rather good news for mid-level players.”
Park Sang-hyun (40) and Paul Yannick (Germany) tied for the lead with an interim total of 8 under par and 136 strokes.