There are several factors that make a tour popular with fans. There can be no argument that one of them is the emergence of a star player. The most ‘hot’ players on the domestic male and female professional golf tour this year are Jeong Chan-min (24) and Bang Shin-sil (19). The point that attracts fans is that both of them hit super long shots, which is rare for domestic players.
What if these were players who only sent distances? Perhaps it was only temporary ‘interest’ rather than ‘popularity’. Fortunately, the two have other performance abilities that make the most of their strengths. A star should be a player who consistently competes for the championship regardless of any course setting. In that regard, the recent post posted on Facebook by Ja-cheol Koo, chairman of the Korea Professional Golf Association (KPGA), is a wave. He said, “First of all, my belief is that domestic competitions must be fun to gain popularity. The appearance of wandering in hazards every day. A bouncing short hole setting. It’s a deep rough where you can’t even see the ball.” In a word, the view is that the course should be easily set up so that players can score good scores.
Course settings for all professional competitions are entirely determined by the race committee. In some cases, the intention of the organizer or the golf course is reflected, but it is extremely limited.
At the SK Telecom Open, which ended on the 21st, Chairman Koo posted on Facebook, “Professional Choi Kyung-ju says, ‘To compete on the world stage, (course setting) must be difficult,’ but in the United States, a fan culture with very high male popularity has already been established. where it is,” he wrote. Chairman Koo went further and said that what makes setting the course difficult is making the players suffer. This is in line with the complaints of some veteran players who are about to advance to the senior tour.
Chairman Koo also posted the following interview with Park Min-ji. “In Korea, I feel like all I have to do is shoot and putt well. But in the US, the grass is different, and I feel that there are many things that are lacking in the short game, so I think I have to go there once to instill a sense of awareness.”
Nowhere in Minji Park’s interview can you find the part that the course setting should be easy. Rather, the main point is that in order to compete on the world stage, you have to go to the U.S. competition to wake up and work harder.
It is not that there are no stars in men’s golf in Korea. Rather, it is overflowing. Many players are active on the PGA Tour, starting with Choi Kyung-ju and Yang Yong-eun.스포츠토토
The solution for men’s golf to be loved by fans should never be an easy course setting, as Chairman Koo said. Rather than such tricks, I hope that he will concentrate on preparing measures to accelerate the renaissance of men’s golf by making good use of star players as soon as possible.