Chan-min Jeong (24) and Seok-hyeon Baek (33), the “surprise stars” of the Korea Professional Golf (KPGA) Korean Tour, have one thing in common: they are giants and have won for the first time this year. But the style is completely different. Jung Chan-min is good at long hits, and Baek Seok-hyun is good at precise short games.
Jeong Chan-min won his first championship since joining the KPGA in 2019 at the GS Caltex Maekyung Open (total prize money of 1.3 billion won), which ended on the 7th. And Baek Seok-hyun, who registered for KPGA in 2013, escaped from obscurity by winning his first win in his life wire-to-wire at the SK Telecom Open (total prize money of 1.3 billion won) on the 21st. Jung Chan-min and Baek Seok-hyun, who emerged as the center of the topic at the beginning of the season, will participate in the KB Financial Live Championship (total prize money of 700 million won) held at the Blackstone Icheon Golf Club (par 72) in Gyeonggi-do for four days from the 25th, sparking a confrontation between giants.
Jeong Chan-min boasts a reliable physique with a height of 188 cm and a weight in the middle of 110 kg. Baek Seok-hyun is 181 cm tall and weighs in the late 90 kg, and is smaller than Jung Chan-min, but compared to other players, he is heavy. Baek Seok-hyun’s weight once exceeded 140 kg, but in 2019 he lost up to 80 kg, and now it has increased slightly. As much as their big physiques, Jung Chan-min and Baek Seok-hyun are good at long hits. Jeong Chan-min’s driver’s maximum driving distance is 405 yards (approximately 370 m), and Baek Seok-hyun’s is 330 yards (301 m).
However, there is a clear difference between the two ways of running the game. Jeong Chan-min hits from the beginning with a cool long hit, but Baek Seok-hyun focuses on the short game in the second half with elaborate wedge use. Jung Chan-min is 2nd in average drive distance on the KPGA Korean Tour this season (325.064 yards), far ahead of Baek Seok-hyun (289.660 yards) in 89th place. On the other hand, Baek Seok-hyun ranked 24th (70.1389%) in the green hit rate, taking an advantage over Jung Chan-min (67.9739%), who ranked 45th.
Jeong Chan-min cites his physique and flexibility as his secret to long hits. He explained, “The driving force of long hits is innate physicals such as height and skeleton,” and “it seems to be sent farther after being born with flexibility.” In particular, Jeong Chan-min emphasized, “I think you can increase the distance if you have good flexibility,” and “I don’t do special training, but I tend to stretch often.” Baek Seok-hyeon also cited the background of long hitting as his physique. He said, “If I hit it right now, I can go over 300 yards.” “When I lost weight, the flight distance decreased. He found his distance again by increasing his weight through weight training.”
The proportional relationship between physique and flight distance has been proven. Lee Gi-gwang, an expert in kinesiology and professor of sports health and rehabilitation at Kookmin University, said, “Muscle mass, muscle power, flexibility, and swing form are important for long hits.” do,” he said. He also said, “The tall man is also strong against long hits. The taller he is, the stronger he can hit while creating a long lever-like effect.” There are exceptions, like Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland). McIlroy is 177cm tall and 73kg in weight, but has a slim physique, but ranks first in average drive distance (326.2 yards) on the PGA Tour. Professor Lee explained, “Although McIlroy is small in size, he makes the swing arc as large as possible to hit.”
Long hits captivate viewers,메이저사이트 but short games capture the championship trophy. Baek Seok-hyun said, “Even if the driver is good, it is not possible to score immediately. He said, “How many moments will there be when you hit the driver and iron perfectly during the 4 rounds?” He also emphasized, “In the end, you have to get away from mistakes and create important moments.” Jeong Chan-min also pointed out the importance of the short game. He said, “The first win was a short game.” He said, “I still lack short game skills, so I need to make up for it.”