The Korean Tour is a men's

professional golf tour Professional golf tours are the means by which otherwise unconnected Professional golfer, professional golf tournaments are organised into a regular schedule. There are separate tours for men and women; most are based in a specific geographical reg ...

run by the Korea Professional Golfers' Association (KPGA) of

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

. In 2011, it had total prize money of about US$14 million. Professional

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

dates back to the mid 20th century. The Korean Professional Golf Championship and the Korean Open were launched in 1958 and the KPGA was founded in 1963. Various other tournaments were created over the following decades. The KPGA's tours serve as feeders for richer tours around the world. Substantial numbers of Korean golfers have played on the

Asian Tour The Asian Tour is the principal men's professional golf tour in Asia except for Japan, which has its own Japan Golf Tour, which is also a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours. Official money events on the tour count for Wo ...

and the Japan Golf Tour, and a few have made it onto the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...

or the

European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fi ...

. Notable examples include

Yang Yong-eun Yang Yong-eun ( ko, 양용은; born 15 January 1972), also called Y. E. Yang, is a South Korean professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He was previously a member of the PGA Tour, where he won twice, including most not ...

, who was the first Korean to win a

men's major golf championship The men's major golf championships, commonly known as the major championships, and often referred to simply as the majors, are the most prestigious tournaments in golf. Historically, the national open and amateur championships of Great Britain a ...

, and K. J. Choi, the first Korean-born PGA Tour winner whose most notable win was the

2011 Players Championship The 2011 Players Championship was a golf tournament in Florida on the PGA Tour, held at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, southeast of Jacksonville. It was the 38th Players Championship. K. J. Choi defeated David Toms on the first hole of a su ...

. In December 2022, it was announced by the

that the KPGA had extended their partnership with them and the

. As part of the expansion, the leading player on the Korean Tour Order of Merit was given status onto the European Tour for the following season.

Main tour

In 2011, there were 17 events on the main tour. All these tournament have prize funds of at least 300 million won (approximately US$300,000). Four have prize funds of 1 billion won (US$1 million) while the Ballantine's Championship has a prize fund of 2.2 million

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

s (approximately US$3.1 million). Total prize money for the tour is approximately 12 billion won (US$12 million). Until 2011, regular Korean Tour events did not carry Official World Golf Ranking points. The first regular tournament to carry World Rankings Points was the 2011 Twayair Open. Korean Tour events carry a minimum of nine OWGR points for the winner, increased from six in 2016.

Order of Merit winners

The Order of Merit uses a points system, currently called Genesis Points. *2022 Kim Yeong-su *2021

Kim Joo-hyung Kim Joo-hyung ( ko, 김주형; born 21 June 2002), also known as Tom Kim, is a South Korean professional golfer. He has won twice on the PGA Tour, twice on the Asian Tour, as well as having two victories on the Korean Tour. Early life and ama ...

*2020 Kim Tae-hoon *2019 Moon Kyong-jun *2018 Lee Hyung-joon *2017 Choi Jin-ho *2016 Choi Jin-ho *2015 Lee Tae-hee *2014 Kim Seung-hyuk *2013 Ryu Hyun-woo *2012 Lee Sang-hee *2011 Hong Soon-sang *2010 Kim Bi-o *2009

Bae Sang-moon Bae Sang-moon ( ko, 배상문; born 21 June 1986), or Sang-moon Bae, is a South Korean professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. Professional career Bae turned professional in 2004. He won the 2006 Emerson Pacific Group Open on the Korean ...

*2008

Kim Hyung-sung Kim Hyung-sung ( ko, 김형성; born 12 May 1980) is a South Korean professional golfer. Kim has played on the Japan Golf Tour since 2009. He won his first tour event in 2012 at the Vana H Cup KBC Augusta. Professional wins (7) Japan Golf To ...

*2007

Kim Kyung-tae Kim Kyung-tae ( ko, 김경태; born 2 September 1986), also known as K.T. Kim, is a South Korean professional golfer who plays on the Asian and Japan Golf Tours. Career He won several tournaments as an amateur, including the 2006 Japan Amateu ...

*2006

*2005 Hur Suk-ho *2004

*2003 K. J. Choi *2002 K. J. Choi *2001

Kang Wook-soon Kang Wook-soon ( ko, 강욱순; born 2 June 1966) is a South Korean professional golfer. Professional career Kang has played on the Asian Tour since it began in its modern form in 1995. He topped the Order of Merit in 1996 and 1998 and was the ...

*2000

*1999

*1998

Choi Gwang-soo Choi may refer to: * Choi (Korean surname), a Korean surname * Choi, Macau Cantonese transliteration of the Chinese surname Cui (崔) and Xu (徐) * Choi, Cantonese romanisation of Cai (surname) (蔡), a Chinese surname * CHOI-FM, a radio station ...

*1997 K. J. Choi *1996 K. J. Choi *1995 Choi Sang-ho *1994 Choi Sang-ho *1993 Park Nam-sin *1992 Choi Sang-ho *1991 Choi Sang-ho *1990 Lee Kang-sun *1989 Bong Tae-ha *1988 Park Nam-sin *1987 Choi Youn-soo *1986 Choi Sang-ho *1985 Choi Sang-ho *1984 Choi Sang-ho *1983 Choi Sang-ho *1982

Han Chang-sang Han may refer to: Ethnic groups * Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group. ** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...

*1981 Choi Sang-ho *1980 Kim Seung-hack *1979

*1978

Cho Tae-woon Cho or CHO may refer to: People * Chief Happiness Officer Surnames * Cho (Korean surname), one romanization of the common Korean surname * Zhuo (), romanized Cho in Wade–Giles, Chinese surname * Cho, a Minnan romanization of the Chinese s ...

Source:

Multiple winners

*9 times ** Choi Sang-ho: 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995 *4 times ** K. J. Choi: 1996, 1997, 2002, 2003 *3 times **

: 1999, 2000, 2001 *2 times **

: 1979, 1982 ** Park Nam-sin: 1988, 1993 **

: 2004, 2006 ** Choi Jin-ho: 2016, 2017

Other KPGA tours

The KPGA launched a developmental tour in 1999. In 2007 there are two developmental tours. Both of them consist of two-day, 36-hole tournaments, and the dates of the tours do not clash. The Bear River Tour consists of ten tournaments with prize funds of 60 million won (US$60,000) each, and the SBS Golf Calloway Tour has eight tournaments with prize funds of 40 million won (US$40,000) each. The KPGA also runs a senior tour and a series of events for teaching pros. The Korean Senior Open Golf Championship was launched in 1996. Women's professional golf has a high profile in South Korea, due to the immense international success of Korean women golfers such as

Se Ri Pak Pak Se-ri or Se-ri Pak ( ko, 박세리, ; born 28 September 1977) is a South Korean former professional golfer who played on the LPGA Tour from 1998 to 2016. She was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2007. Career overview Born in D ...

since the mid-1990s. There is a separate LPGA of Korea Tour for women.

Notes

References

External links

English-language version of official site
stv feature, 19 June 2007. {{Men's Professional Golf Tours Professional golf tours Golf in South Korea 1963 establishments in South Korea