Kim earns seeding for next year's Korean Tour after winning the season finale on the Srixon Tour.
Kim Geun-tae won the season finale of the Korean Professional Golf Association (KPGA) Thrixon Tour in dramatic fashion to earn a spot on next year's KPGA Korean Tour.
Kim shot a 3-under 69 in the final round of the 20th Thrixon Tour event (total prize money of 120 million won) at the Kyle Phillips Course (Par 72) in Yeongam 45, Golf Zone County, Yeongam-gun, Jeollanam-do on Nov. 11 to top the leaderboard with a three-round total of 16-under 200.
It was his first victory since turning professional.
Kim, who was 52nd on the Thrixon Tour Order of Merit prior to this event, moved up to sixth on the Order of Merit with the victory and earned a seeding into the 2024 Korean Tour, which is awarded to the top 10 players on the Order of Merit.
With his $24 million prize, Kim jumped to fifth place on the money list ($34.23 million).
Kim is one of the few Korean professional golfers to have studied and played golf in college.
Kim moved to the United States at the age of 16 and majored in business administration at Tennessee State University, where he received a merit scholarship for three of his four years.
Along the way, he won five U.S. collegiate golf team titles and two individual titles.
After qualifying as a KPGA professional in June 2019, 카지노사이트랭크 Kim made his Korean Tour debut in 2020, taking first place in the Korean Tour Qualifying Tournament, but missed the cut for the ninth time in 10 tournaments and played primarily on the Srixon Tour from 2021 until this year.
"It's like a dream," said Kim, who would have been eating teary-eyed bread on the Srixon Tour next year if it weren't for this tournament win. I feel like the hard work I put in for three years on the Thrixon Tour has been rewarded," he said.
Kim, who has been trying to improve his driver distance, which has been a weakness, said he gained confidence after finishing tied for 23rd at the MBank Open on the Korean Tour last month, where he played as a recommended player.
"In the Korean Tour, I want to be a player who wins, not just make the cut," he said.
Ten of the winners were Thrixon-sponsored players as Kim, who is sponsored by Dunlop Sports Korea, which organizes the Thrixon Tour, won his 20th event.
Song Jae-il, a three-time winner of the fourth, fifth, and eighth tournaments, topped the points list and will play on the Korean Tour next year.
Joon-hyung Jeon, Baek-joon Kim, Kim Soo-gyeom, Kim Geun-tae, Kim Yong-tae, Kim Young-kyu, Uhm Jung-hyun, Kim Jae-il, and Jeong Jae-hyun also earned seeding into the 2024 Korean Tour by finishing in the top 10 on the Thrixon points list. 섯다