“The bigger the dream, the better.”
‘Korean Hulk’ Jung Chan-min has a big dream. It is to lift the championship trophy on the PGA Tour, where the best players gather. In an interview with Asia Economy ahead of his departure from Chile on the 22nd, Jung Chan-min said, “I am leaving for Chile to participate in the Korn Ferry (Part 2) tour” and said, “I will deliver good news.” He continued, “I want to play on the PGA Tour someday,” and promised, “I will work harder for that dream.”
Born in 1999, Jung Chan-min started playing golf in the third grade of elementary school. Since he was an amateur, he has been flying. He had no opponents, achieving two consecutive victories at the Songam Bae Amateur Championship in 2016 and 2017. In his first win in 2016, he beat runner-up Kim Han-byul by six strokes. When he successfully defended his title in 2017, it was a huge victory by 10 strokes. However, his professional career was not easy. Since 2019 he has played in the Korea Professional Golf (KPGA) Srixon (Part 2) Tour. In 2019 and 2020, he suffered a bitter taste in the Qualifying Tournament (QT), which corresponds to the regular tour qualification test. He said, “It was a time when I was thinking about giving up golf,” and confessed, “I did well to persevere.” Jeong Chan-min is a natural long hitter. He is called ‘Korea’s Bryson DeChambeau (USA)’. He has a solid physique of 188 cm and 120 kg. In the 2017 Young Champions Trophy held at the Royal Liverpool Golf Course in England, he spent a whopping 370m (about 405 yards). It is his own longest record. Jeong Chan-min humbly said, “The wind blew on the flat ground,” and “The fairway was hard, so there were a lot of runs.” In last year’s Korean Tour, he averaged 312.4 yards and became the ‘Long Hit King’. Chan-Min Jung sends 300 yards and 275 yards with his 3-wood and 2-iron, respectively. Jung Chan-min was equipped with a new weapon this year. His driver is TaylorMade’s Stealth 2 Plus. He has 8 degrees of loft and the shaft is an 85g TX. He set it up as heavy and strong as possible. His swing measurement data is also top-notch. Club speed 115-120 mph, ball speed 175-180 mph, spin rate 2300-2400 rpm.
Jung Chan-min showed his old skills from 2021. He won the 12th round of the Srixon Tour and the final 20th round, and entered the Korean Tour, the first division stage last year, with the qualification for the top prize money. With the US stage in mind, he also performed a Korn Ferry tour at the same time. People around him expected him to receive the rookie award, which is only once in his life, but he fell short by 2%. Last year, in June, KPGA Championship tied for ninth, and in July, Honors K Solago CC Hanjangsang Invitational tied for fourth place. The Rookie Award went to Bae Yong-joon.
Jung Chan-min showed a strong will to achieve a reversal this year. From January 9th to February 28th, he trained for 50 days in Danang, Vietnam. He poured a lot of sweat with coach Park Jun-seong, whom he had a relationship with since his days as a national team player. He explained, “I worked hard on the short game and putter, which were lacking last year,” and “I especially focused on training to stick 4-5m at a distance of 100m.” After returning to Korea, I went to work every day at Busan Asiad CC. Practice green at 9:00 am, shot training after lunch, and went around the course from 4:30 pm. After that, it is a forced march that completes all training at 7:30 pm after checking the lacking points at the practice field. Whenever he had time, he focused on weight training to build up his strength.
Jung Chan-min is going on both the Korean Tour and Korn Ferry Tour this year as well. He has a conditional seed, having finished tied for 59th at last year’s Korn Ferry Tour QT. For four days from the 30th, he will compete in the Astara Chile Championship (total prize money of 1 million dollars) held at the Prince of Wales Country Club in Santiago, Chile. Jeong Chan-min expressed his determination, saying, “If I get good grades in this tournament, I can play at the Vertex Bank Championship (April 13-16, Arlington, Texas, USA).” 바카라사이트
Jung Chan-min’s ultimate goal is to play an active part on the PGA Tour, which is the wish of all players. He said, “I want to play on the PGA Tour stage after succeeding on the Corn Ferry Tour.” He added, “There is talk that QT will be created on the PGA Tour again,” adding, “I want to learn a lot while competing with prominent players.”
Jung Chan-min is a player with a strong ego. He emphasized, “I don’t want to imitate anyone. My goal is to pursue my own golf,” and emphasized, “I will play more aggressively.” Jeong Chan-min said, “Last year my confidence fell and my swing shrank as my play got twisted, but this year is different.”