KPGA’s Genesis Point Award Winner to earn membership to DP World Tour

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KPGA’s Genesis Point Award Winner to earn membership to DP World Tour

 
The Korea Professional Golfers’ Association (KPGA)’s Genesis Point Award Winner will earn membership to the DP World Tour starting next season after the DP World Tour and PGA Tour jointly announced Wednesday an expansion to the relationship with the KPGA.
 
The top finishers on the Genesis Point list will also earn a raft of benefits including entry into various stages of the DP World Tour Qualifying School, which takes place later in 2023. The three tours intend to further discuss expansion of additional pathway commitments for 2024 and beyond.
 
Kim Young-soo is the golfer who secured this exemption for the 2023 DP World Tour season after finishing the 2022 campaign as the Genesis Point Award Winner. He claimed his first career KPGA victory in October at the Genesis Championship before winning again at the season-ending LG Signature Players Championship. He will now also gain entry into July’s Genesis Scottish Open, the Rolex Series event which is co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and PGA Tour.
 
As part of its commitment to supporting professional golf in Korea, the DP World Tour will also mark its return to the country for the first time in 10 years next April for the inaugural Korea Championship.  
 
The tournament, which will be co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and KPGA, will be played at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea in Incheon with a $2 million prize fund on offer. Additional information regarding the Korea Championship will follow.
 
Today’s announcement further enhances the opportunities for international players to compete at the highest levels of men’s professional golf. As part of this system, the leading 10 players on the DP World Tour’s Race To Dubai Rankings in addition to those already exempt will earn cards on the PGA Tour, beginning with the 2024 season — an aspect of the strategic alliance between the PGA Tour and DP World Tour announced in June.
 
In addition to the exemptions confirmed today, the KPGA will also work alongside the DP World Tour and PGA Tour on other key business areas, including strategic development and commercial growth, as well as future collaboration on media rights strategy and enhancements to the player pathway, including access to the Korn Ferry Tour.  
 
“The KPGA has a strong history of producing exceptional talent and we are delighted to confirm these formal pathways, giving players clearly defined routes to showcase their skills on the DP World Tour and PGA Tour,” said Keith Pelley, Chief Executive Officer of the DP World Tour as part of the announcement.  
 
“Combined with our tournament in Korea next April, we look forward to working closely with the KPGA and the PGA Tour to inspire, and to enable, future generations of Korean players to reach the very top of the men’s professional game.”
 
“Im Sung-jae, Lee Kyoung-hoon, Kim Si-woo and Kim Joo-hyung are all becoming household names in the United States thanks in large part to the contributions they made this past September for the International Team at the 2022 Presidents Cup. What each of those young stars has in common is that they all honed their craft at the KPGA, which continues a proud tradition of producing world-class talent each and every year. We look forward to seeing the next set of young stars from this proud golf country make their way onto the DP World Tour and perhaps subsequently onto the PGA Tour in future seasons.”
 
“It has been our honor to see Korean Tour winners go on to have similar success at the top echelon of the men’s professional game,” said Chairman of the Korea Professional Golfers’ Association Koo Ja-cheol.  
 
“We are certain that today’s announcement will help further grow the sport in Korea, and we are grateful to be officially welcomed into the meritocracy that the men’s professional game provides.”
 
Korean stars who have previously been victorious on both the DP World Tour and PGA Tour include K.J. Choi, Y.E. Yang and Noh Seung-yul.  
 
Choi has won a total of 16 titles on the KPGA Tour and eight titles on the PGA Tour. Until early this year, Choi was the most successful Asian golfer ever to compete on the PGA Tour. Choi became the most successful golfer in Asia in 2011, when he won his eighth title at the The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in a playoff against David Toms of the United States. That achievement stood for more than a decade. He now shares that accolade with Hideki Matsuyama of Japan, who won the Sony Open in January to tie Choi's record.
 
“I’m delighted the KPGA, DP World Tour and PGA Tour have expanded their relationship which will only benefit Korean golfers,” said Choi.  
 
“Our young players will have added motivation to excel in the game as there is now a clear career pathway for them to compete on the KPGA, and subsequently play against the best players in the world on the DP World Tour and PGA Tour. This announcement is a wonderful development for Korean golf.”
 

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