As it rained throughout the tournament at the South Seoul Country Club, where the Maegyeong Open was held on Sunday, players struggled a lot in proceeding with the tournament. The weather affected the team significantly and saw its ranking fluctuate in the final round. Three players from the champion's group, Junghoon Lee, Lee Tae-hee, and Chunratit Chuen Bunwoongam (Thailand), competed in a neck-and-neck race until the last three holes were left. Until then, it seemed that among them, the winner would come out.
The trio appeared to be on edge due to the continuous rain. As the rain reduced the flying distance by 10 percent and the green speed eased a little, they hit each shot carefully. They calculated the exact hole distance from behind the tee mark and hit the tee shot. In the field, they compared the distance mark painted in red and yellow with Yardijibook, and measured the distance of the next shot by taking forward and backward steps.
Kim Hong-taek, who was at the 17th hole ahead of the 16th hole on the green where Thailand's Enbunwoongam was leading by one stroke, made a birdie with confidence to tie for the lead. Kim Hong-taek, who started in third place by two strokes, moved away from the lead with a total of 6 under par with two birdies, two bogeys, and one double bogey in the first half, but made three consecutive birdies at the 13, 14, and 15 holes to raise it to 9 under par. He then succeeded in a left uphill birdie putt on the par-3 17th hole to take the joint lead.
The winners were decided by Kim Hong-taek in front of the champion, and En Boon-woongam in the champion's group. Kim finished the game first with a total of 10 under par with 2 on and 2 putts at the 18th hole. En Boon-woongam, however, was not easy either. After his second shot at the 18th hole fell to the right end of the heresy green hole, his first putt was short, but he succeeded in a 3-meter par putt, dramatically pushing the game to extra time.
Kim Hong-taek dropped his tee shot in the rough next to the left fairway, where he could hit the hole well in overtime. However, Enbunwoongam faced a crisis as his tee shot fell into a bunker on the left side. Enbunwoongam's second shot hit the bunker's chin and fell 50 meters into the rough in front of the green, and his third shot fell under the heresy green. In contrast, Kim slightly crossed the green with his second shot, but with an exquisite approach shot, he attached it to the 2 meters of the hole, which gave him an advantageous opportunity to catch par. Enbunwoongam stopped at the mark due to his short first putt on the green. At this time, the goddess of victory approached Kim Hong-taek strongly. After Enbunwoongam putted a bogey putt first, Kim Hong-taek successfully putt with a willingness to raise his arms and enjoyed the joy of winning the title.
This year's Maegyeong Open was unexpectedly won by Kim Hong-taek at the worst, proving the long-standing myth in the golf world that "big matches are also hard to predict."
BY: 토토사이트링크
