Lee Tae-hoon looks to defend title at Hana Bank Invitational

Lee Tae-hoon tees off on the first hole during the third round of the KPGA's Woori Financial Group Championship at Ferrum Country Club in Yeoju, Gyeonggi on May 14. [YONHAP]

The Hana Bank Invitational will tee off Thursday at Nam Chuncheon Country Club in Chuncheon, Gangwon, where Lee Tae-hoon will try and defend his title.

The Hana Bank Invitational succeeds the Korea-China Tour KEB Hana Bank Invitational, which was held from 2008 to 2010. It was re-established in 2018 and this year marks its fourth anniversary.

In 2019, the competition brought together golfers from nine different countries including from the China, Japan, European and Australian Tours. In 2020, the competition was canceled due to Covid-19, but returned a year later in 2021. This year, the field moved to Nam Chuncheon Country Club in Gangwon, which hosts a KPGA top tier event for the first time.

This year, a total of 144 golfers tee off including nine from the Japan Tour. The total purse is one billion won ($770,000) and the winner will take home 200 million won.

The defending champion is Richard Lee, competing in Korea as Lee Tae-hoon, who won the 2021 Hana Bank Invitational at Bear's Best Cheongna Golf Club in Incheon last year, carding a total of 17 under par, 267. He has a total of four titles, three on the KPGA Tour and one on the Asian Tour.

"I prepared thoroughly because this is the most important competition of the year," said Lee in a pre-tournament interview. "I tried to pull up my form leading up to this competition. I have never been able to defend my title since debuting on the Tour. My objective this week is to win."

This season, Lee has made three cuts in five tournaments, his best result being a fourth-place finish at the Woori Finance Championships this May.

If Lee does defend his title, he will be the first golfer to do so in two years on the KPGA Tour.

The last time a golfer was able to defend his title on the KPGA Tour was Lee Tae-hee, who defended his 2019 title at the 2020 GS Caltex Maekyung Open.

Alongside Lee Tae-hoon, the latest champion on the KPGA Tour, Shin Sang-hoon, will tee off on Thursday as he looks to repeat his performance last week at the KPGA Championship with A-ONE Country Club, where he won his first-ever title.

"I don't want to be too vain but I can't help wanting to win for two consecutive weeks," said Shin. "I think I can get good results if I stay calm and prepare for the event the same way I have even before winning a title. I will try and keep my concentration throughout the tournament."

If Shin pulls off a win for a second consecutive week, he will become the first golfer since September of 2020 to do so, following Kim Han-byeol, who won the inaugural Hazzys KPGA Open in August and the Shinhan Donghae Open the following week.

Ham Jeong-woo, Park Eun-shin, Han Seung-soo, Park Bae-jong, Lee Seung-min and Park Sang-hyun are all sponsored by Hana Financial Group and will be looking to become champions of the tournament.

"I'm excited because it's my main sponsor event," said Ham. "I would like to thank the Hana Financial Group officials for their generous support that made it possible for me to focus only on golf. I will compete with pride and hope to repay my gratitude with a victory."

The Hana Bank Invitational runs from Thursday to Sunday.

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]