Reporters and officials who visited the site of the Korea Professional Golf (KPGA) Korean Tour Woori Financial Championship (total prize money of 1.5 billion won) couldn’t help but admire it day after day. This is because many galleries, which are usually difficult to see on Korean tours, visited the venue to see Lim Seong-jae (25), and there was a greater response than this. As if in return for the fans’ support, Lim Seong-jae held a birdie march in the second half and prepared a stepping stone to jump into the championship competition. Fan service like ‘professional idol’ after the game was a bonus.
In the second round of the tournament held at the Ferrum Club (par 72) in Yeoju-si, Gyeonggi-do on the 12th, Lim Seong-jae made 7 birdies, 2 bogies and 1 double bogey, and shot 3 under par 69. Lim Seong-jae, who recorded a total of 4 under par 140 strokes until the second round, was tied for 6th place by 5 strokes with Choi Jin-ho (39), who took the sole lead in the morning group. It raised the rankings from a tie for 24th the previous day.
Lim Seong-jae, who won two victories on the PGA Tour, boarded a plane immediately after finishing the Wells Fargo Championship last week and entered Incheon International Airport on the 9th. In the first round of the previous day, when he had no time to adjust to the jet lag, he played in the afternoon group, the time zone most vulnerable to jet lag, reducing one stroke.
In the second round, my condition was much better, and my performance improved. He committed a three-putt bogey on the first hole, hole 10 (par 4), and the shot went to the rough on hole 13 (par 4), and a three-putt came out to write down a double bogey, but the mistake ended here. Afterwards, Lim Seong-jae caught 6 birdies and prepared the conditions to compete for the championship.
From the second half, mid-distance putts over 3m began to fall into the cup. In particular, an 8m birdie was put in on the 7th hole (par 4), and a birdie of 4m or more was caught on the 5th hole (par 5) and the 8th hole (par 3).
Im Seong-jae met with the reporters after the second round and said, “I had a bad start at the beginning, but I played step by step with the intention of reducing the score as much as possible. He has a good finish, so I think he will be able to compete (win) in the 3rd and 4th rounds.”
Im Seong-jae, in particular, could not hide his surprise at the many fans who came to see him in the first and second rounds. He said, “It has been almost four years since I competed in a domestic competition. He was a PGA Tour rookie four years ago, and now he’s in his fifth year. He said, “I thought, ‘Because I’m consistently good on the PGA Tour, I’ve got a lot of fans in Korea.'” Yeoju is a bit far from Gyeonggi-do, but many came, so I felt good and proud,” he said honestly.
He added, “In the second half, the galleries gradually came together, which gave me strength. I was able to catch a lot of birdies because of your support.”
Lim Seong-jae competed in a domestic competition 3 years and 7 months after winning the Genesis Championship in October 2019. At the time, he overturned a gap of 7 strokes in the Genesis Championship and won, and he is aiming for a chance to win this tournament as well.메이저사이트
Im Seong-jae said, “Even on the PGA Tour, the 3rd and 4th rounds are the most important. I think the 3rd round will be important for Korea as well. You have to narrow down the score to 1st place as much as possible so that you can compete on the last day. We will make sure that the gap does not widen too much,” he said.
He said, “This course is very difficult to putt when the ball falls on a steep slope, so avoiding it is my course management. The reason why the score was not good in the beginning of the day was because I was too aggressive,” he said. Based on today’s game, we will attack the course well in the third round according to the pin position.”
After the interview, Im Seong-jae headed straight outside the clubhouse to the fans waiting for him. More than 100 fans were waiting to get Lim Seong-jae’s autograph. After that, there was a schedule, so the time to devote to the fans was about 20 minutes, but Im Seong-jae left after signing autographs for all the fans in line until the set time had passed.