Rookie of the Year nominee Kim Hyun-wook said, "I dream of a brilliant victory ceremony like Woods."

Rookie of the Year nominee Kim Hyun-wook said, "I dream of a brilliant victory ceremony like Woods."

Blog Article

Kim, who was born in 2004 and turned 20 this year, has lived alone for seven years. Born in Jeju Island, Kim left his parents' arms when he was an 8th grader and moved to Dongtan, Gyeonggi Province. Since then, he has consistently stood out. He served as a member of the national team's standing army in 2020 and won the Korea Amateur Golf Championship, one of the most prestigious amateur competitions in Korea, in 2022.

He was selected as a member of the national team in 2023 and became a professional player in June last year by winning the KPGA Challenge Tour (part 2) where he participated as an amateur. Since then, Kim Hyun-wook will make his KPGA Tour debut this year as No. 1 in unification points by winning the 16th Challenge Tour tournament as a professional player in September.
In a recent interview with E-Daily, Kim said, "I felt a bit of pressure because I had to do well in the Challenge Tour last year to go straight to the first part of the tour. As an amateur, I ranked No. 1 in the unified points rankings and achieved my goal of finishing as No. 1 until the end. I was lucky."

Kim Hyun-wook, who started playing golf in the fourth grade along with his father, a golf lover, recalled that his desire to win led him to become a player. "When I was in the sixth grade of elementary school, I first participated in a national competition. It was my first time playing with friends from other regions, but it was superior. I wanted to beat them, so I kept playing golf," Kim recalled. "I can't live without losing."

I also can't forget my experience when I was a high school senior when I participated in the 2022 KPGA Tour's largest Genesis Championship as a recommended player. "I felt treated like a player, and I felt that I wanted to succeed," he said. "I felt that I wanted to continue participating in luxury golf courses such as Jack Nicklaus. I feel that I have grown further by experiencing good courses."

Though not physically tall, 172 centimeters tall, she sends 270 meters of average drive shots, and she is most confident in her wedge shot within 100 meters. To make her debut in the first part of the tour, she plans to strengthen her mind and lose weight more than when she was an amateur. She also needs to supplement her skills such as tee shot stability. 토토사이트

Kim Hyun-wook tried to learn from his seniors' strengths by participating in the KPGA Tour Woori Finance Championship last year following the Genesis Championship in 2022. In particular, at last year's Woori Finance Championship, he got a chance to practice round with Lim Sung-jae, a "World Class" who plays on the PGA Tour. "I practiced a lot of approaches on the green edge of the last hole during practice, and I was impressed to see (Im Sung-jae) send the ball to the place where he practiced in the final round of the tournament at Hole 18 and win the championship," Kim Hyun-wook said.

His role model is Jang Yoo-bin, a two-year-old former member of the national team. "I joined the national team as a training camp, and I thought, 'I can't beat him. He's really good at it,'" Kim said. His idol is Tiger Woods of the U.S., the "golf emperor." "He has a different aura from others and his performance is spectacular and cool," Kim said. "I once imagined him winning the first part of the tour and speaking his mind while watching WOODZ. I am waiting for his debut with a happy imagination."

This year's goal is to rank within the top 30 in terms of Rookie of the Year and Genesis points. "I will improve stability of tee shots and achieve good results in the KPGA Tour," Kim said.