KPGA golfers head to Japan for Hana Bank Invitational

Junseok Lee of Australia hits a shot during the Hana Bank Invitational at Nam Chun Cheon Country Club in Chuncheon, Gangwon on June 19, 2022. [NEWS1]

The Hana Bank Invitational, co-organized by the KPGA and Japan Golf Tour (JGTO), tees off Thursday at Chiba Isumi Golf Club in Japan, with a 144-strong field of golfers from across the world joining the event.

First started as the Korea-China Tour KEB Invitational in 2008, which mainly included Korean and Chinese golfers, the tournament was discontinued in 2010 but returned in 2018 with a much wider pool of golfers.

A total of 76 Korean golfers will be competing in the Invitational.

Defending champion Junseok Lee of Australia is looking to become the first-ever golfer to defend his title. A number of other former champions are also competing, including 2019 champion Seo Yo-seop and 2018 winner Park Sang-hyun, who have yet to manage a title this season.

Five KPGA golfers that have secured a title apiece this season will be looking to become the first multi-winner of the season: Ko Gun-taek, Jung Chan-min, Baek Seuk-hyun, Kim Dong-min and Choi Seung-bin.

No Korean golfer has won the Hana Bank Invitation since Seo in 2019.

The tournament did not take place in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and Richard Lee of Canada won it the following year.

This year’s tournament is also an opportunity for a Japanese golfer to be the first-ever Japanese winner of the event.

Taiga Semikawa, who is ranked at No. 1 on Japan's Mercedes-Benz ranking as of Wednesday, will be competing to claim his second title of the season — the first was at the Kansai Open Golf Championship in April.

JGTO veterans like Hiroshi Iwata and Mikumu Horikawa are other notable names in the field.

Iwata has five JGTO titles, while Horikawa has won four JGTO events and managed to make the cut in 22 events out of 24 last year.

The winner of the Hana Bank Invitation will receive a two-year KPGA and JGTO Tour card and 1,000 Genesis points.

An Seong-hyeon paired with Kim Bong-sub and Shota Matsumoto will be the first to tee off on the first hole at 6:30 a.m., the same time Park Jun-won starts with Kwon O-sang and Takashi Ogiso on the 10th hole.

Seo will then tee off with Yuta Kinoshita and Jinichiro Kozuma on the same hole at 7:10 a.m., followed by defending champion Junseok Lee on the first hole with Choi and Kazuki Higa at 12:20 p.m.

The Hana Bank Invitational will be broadcast through SBS Golf 2.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]