Kim Kyung-tae announced his intention to return to Korea through the Korean Professional Golf (KPGA) Korean Tour on the 6th and said, “My goal is to win the KPGA Korean Tour by all means before I retire.” It is the first time in 16 years since 2007 that Kim Kyung-tae is concentrating on the Korean tour. Kim Gyeong-tae, who moved to JGTO in 2008, has been taking part in domestic competitions with Japan as his main stage. Until last year, he won six times on the Korean Tour and 14 wins at the JGTO, bringing his professional career to 20.
Kim Kyung-tae has a ‘permanent seed right’ on the Korean Tour, so he can play as a player. The KPGA gives a permanent seed to winners of 20 domestic and international tours or the winners of the four major tournaments of the American Professional Golf (PGA) Tour. Until last year, permanent seeding was given only to players with a total of 25 wins at home and abroad, but starting this year, as the standards changed, the path for Kim Gyeong-tae’s “domestic U-turn” was opened. There are six players who have the permanent seed for the Korean Tour: Han Jang-sang (83), Choi Sang-ho (68), Park Nam-shin (64), Choi Gyeong-ju (53), Yang Yong-eun (51), and Kim Gyeong-tae. 먹튀검증
Kim Kyung-tae built a brilliant career from his amateur days. He won the Korean Amateur Championship and the Japanese Amateur Championship, and won two gold medals at the 2006 Doha Asian Games. In 2007, when he turned pro, he won 3 wins on the Korean Tour and swept the Grand Prize, Prize Money King and Rookie of the Year awards. His nickname at the time was ‘Monster’.
After moving to Japan, he won 3 wins at the JGTO in 2010, becoming the first Korean to become the prize money champion. In 2015, he won 14 wins while working as a top player in the JGTO for a while, sweeping the grand prize and prize money king with 5 wins. The 14 wins is the record for the most wins by a Korean player at the JGTO. The prize money alone amounts to 948.29 million yen (approximately 9 billion won). Then, after winning the Casio World Open in 2019, he decided to spend the second half of his career as a player in Korea as his slump continued over the past two years. Kim Gyeong-tae, who has been sponsored by Shinhan Financial Group for 17 years since 2007, said, “I hope my first win in Korea will come at the Shinhan Donghae Open.”