Home > Sports > Golf

Five Korean golfers to vie for a LIV Golf ticket

Published: 10 Dec. 2024, 17:32 Updated: 10 Dec. 2024, 18:00

Kim Hong-taek hits a shot during the DB Insurance Promy Open in Chuncheon, Gangwon on April 11. [NEWS1]

Five of the top 10 money winners on the Korean men's golf tour this year will try to qualify for a Saudi Arabia-backed renegade circuit with giant purses starting this week.

LIV Golf, financed by the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, announced the field for the second annual LIV Golf Promotions on Tuesday. The qualifying tournament will tee off Thursday for a three-day, four-round run at Riyadh Golf Club in Riyadh.

The field of 93 players includes winners on the PGA Tour, DP World Tour (formerly European Tour), Asian Tour, Ryder Cup veterans, and former U.S. collegiate champions.

The top finisher will earn $200,000 and a spot in the LIV Golf League next year, and the top 10 players and ties will earn full exemption into the International Series, which is made up of 10 Asian Tour tournaments with elevated prize money.

Kim Hong-taek, who finished third in money on the KPGA Tour this year, headlines the Korean contingent. He is a two-time KPGA winner who led the circuit in greens in regulation in each of the past three years.

Cho Woo-young (fourth on the KPGA money list), Hur In-hoi (fifth), Lee Jung-hwan (eighth) and Lee Dai-han (ninth) will also tee off. The four players have won a combined 11 KPGA titles. Wang Jeung-hun, a three-time European Tour winner, will take his crack, too.

Cho Woo-young celebrates after winning The Charity Classic on the Legend Course at Seolhaeone in Yangyang, Gangwon on Oct. 20. [YONHAP]

LIV Golf offers huge purses at its 54-hole, no-cut tournaments. In 2024, each regular LIV Golf tournament had a purse of $25 million — bigger than any PGA Tour event this year except The Players Championship, which also had a $25 million purse — with $20 million distributed among the 54 players in each field and the remaining $5 million split among the top three teams.

According to LIV Golf, 64 players will compete in the first round on Thursday. The top 20 and ties will advance to Friday's second round, where they will be joined by 29 players who automatically qualified for that stage. Most of the Koreans will begin their quest in the second round.

Scores will be reset for the second round and the top 20 players, after tiebreakers if necessary, will stay alive for the final day.

On Saturday, scores will be reset for a 36-hole finish.

LIV Golf held its inaugural season in 2022, after luring some of the biggest PGA Tour stars, such as Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson.

No Korean player has played on the LIV tour, but in 2024, two players of Korean descent, Kevin Na of the United States and Danny Lee of New Zealand, were teammates on Iron Heads GC.

LIV Golf has been accused of being a vehicle for Saudi Arabia's "sportswashing," referring to an effort by the country criticized for human rights abuses to cleanse its public image through sports.

Yonhap