 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Korean Tour" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(April 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Current season, competition or edition: 2024 Korean Tour | |
| Formerly | SBS Korean Tour |
|---|---|
| Sport | Golf |
| Founded | 1978 |
| First season | 1978 |
| Countries | Based in South Korea[a] |
| Most titles | Order of Merit titles: Choi Sang-ho (9)Tournament wins:  Choi Sang-ho (43) |
| Official website | www |
TheKorean Tour is a men'sprofessional golf tour run by the Korea Professional Golfers' Association (KPGA) ofSouth Korea. In 2011, it had total prize money of aboutUS$14 million.
Professionalgolf inKorea dates back to the mid 20th century. The Korean Professional Golf Championship and theKorean Open were launched in 1958 and the KPGA was founded in 1963. Various other tournaments were created over the following decades.
The KPGA's tours serve as feeders for richer tours around the world. Substantial numbers of Korean golfers have played on theAsian Tour and theJapan Golf Tour, and a few have made it onto thePGA Tour or theEuropean Tour. Notable examples includeYang Yong-eun, who was the first Korean to win amen's major golf championship, andK. J. Choi, the first Korean-born PGA Tour winner whose most notable win was the2011 Players Championship.
In June 2004, the tour signed a title sponsorship agreement withSeoul Broadcasting System, being renamed as theSBS Korean Tour. The agreement was reported to be worth₩15,000,000,000 over five years.[1]
In December 2022, it was announced by theEuropean Tour that the KPGA had extended their partnership with them and thePGA Tour. As part of the expansion, the leading player on the Korean Tour Order of Merit was given status onto the European Tour for the following season.[2] In 2023, the number of players earning European Tour cards was increased to three.
In 2011, there were 17 events on the main tour. All these tournament have prize funds of at least 300 millionwon (approximatelyUS$300,000). Four have prize funds of 1 billion won (US$1 million) while theBallantine's Championship has a prize fund of 2.2 millioneuros (approximately US$3.1 million). Total prize money for the tour is approximately 12 billion won (US$12 million).
Until 2011, regular Korean Tour events did not carryOfficial World Golf Ranking points. The first regular tournament to carry World Rankings Points was the 2011 Twayair Open.[3] Korean Tour events carry a minimum of nine OWGR points for the winner, increased from six in 2016.
The KPGA launched a developmental tour in 1999. In 2007 there are two developmental tours. Both of them consist of two-day, 36-hole tournaments, and the dates of the tours do not clash. The Bear River Tour consists of ten tournaments with prize funds of 60 million won (US$60,000) each, and the SBS Golf Calloway Tour has eight tournaments with prize funds of 40 million won (US$40,000) each.
The KPGA also runs a senior tour and a series of events for teaching pros. The Korean Senior Open Golf Championship was launched in 1996.
Women's professional golf has a high profile in South Korea, due to the immense international success of Korean women golfers such asPak Se-ri since the mid-1990s. There is a separateLPGA of Korea Tour for women.
| Rank | Player | Wins | Years won |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Choi Sang-ho | 9 | 1978, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995 |
| T2 | Choi Gwang-soo | 4 | 1998,2000,2001,2005 |
| K. J. Choi | 1996,1997,2002,2003 | ||
| 4 | Kang Wook-soon | 3 | 1999,2000,2001 |
| T5 |  Choi Jin-ho | 2 | 2016,2017 |
 Kim Seung-hack | 1979, 1980 | ||
| Park Nam-sin | 1988, 1993 | ||
| Yang Yong-eun | 2004,2006 |
Source:[4]
