Anthony Kim leads the first day with underpar
Anthony Kim was in the lead of the 51st KOLON-Hana Bank Korea Open tournament participating as an invitational player. Anthony led the game aggressively with long range shots, taking 8 birdies, leaving behind the 2nd rank by two shots, recording 64/7 under pars.
Anthony stated "It was an honor for me to participate in Korea's biggest tournament with huge supporters that made me nervous in the beginning, but I ended up with better results than I have anticipated." He also delivered the message of gratitude for those fans "who greeted me with warm welcome as a Korean."
In the other hand, Korea's Kim Jong Myung chased Anthony, leading the 2nd rank. Kim Dae Seop, Park Nam Sin, Bae Sang Mun led the 3rd rank group with other players scoring 4 under par. Hong Sun Sang, Kim Min Hui(amateur players) led the following group with 3 under pars. Ian Porter from U.K (32) was left behind ranking 14th with 2 under par.
Kim Wee Jung, Ian Porter flies high!
At the end of the second round on the 3rd, Korea's Kim Wee Jung (28) led the 2nd rank with 8 under pars. He scored one eagle, 4 birdies by limiting his bogeys to 2, finally wrapping up the game with 67 shots, total 134, standing on the lead by 1 shot from Kim Dae Seop & Ian Porter.
Ian Porter was on the dual lead with Kim Dae Seop scoring 5 under pars, 66 shots, making total of 7 under pars. Although he had two bogeys from his putt miss, he was able to trim down 5 shots with three consecutive birdies from the first round's formidable play. In the other hand, Kim Dae Seop, the two round champion of this tournament, was able to record his name in Korea Open's Leader board top list.
This day's round was delayed 2 hours and half due to heavy fog. For this reason, 42 players from group 14 who started of in the afternoon were not able to complete their rounds.
The chasers, Ian Porter & Anthony Kim
Kim Wee Jung was completely on the verge. On his third round, he recorded 5 birdies, 3 bogeys, 2 under par, leading half semester of the game with 10 under pars, 103 shots. If he succeeds to win, he might also put himself in an advantageous position of winning the season's award winner by adding additional 300 mil KRW.
Anthony Kim's complete collapse from previous days' OB was an indifferent issue today. Though he started off instable with a bogey, he totally turned over the mood by recording birdie in the 2nd hole and accelerated his chase.
Anthony Kim grouped the 2nd rank with Kim Dae Seop, Ian Porter by scoring 9 under par, 204 shots. NOH Seung-yul, a noticeable player from this season's Asian tour is fighting well too. He scored 5 birdies, 3 under pars jumping up to rank 9 by wrapping up interim score of 3 under par, 210 shots.
Complete turn over drama by Bae Sang Mun
On the final day of the tournament, Bae Sang Mun was the highlight of all to kiss the trophy after his unpredicted turnover drama.
He was never on the lead throughout the 3rd round until he scored 3 under pars, 69 shots on the final day, finishing off 4 rounds total with 273 shots to leave behind 2nd rank Ian Porter and finally won the champion.
Bae's rounds were instable with heavy fluctuations of recording only 1 par in the first semester yet he succeeded a 10m long putt at 10th hole and began to stabilize the mood the success. He stated "I have no better comments than to say I'm so happy and can't believe this moment. All the efforts I have put into seemed to come true and I'm so proud. I always dreamed of winning this tournament as I have prepared myself tight for the Korea Open."
With 15,000 galleries & supporters, this day's tournament was meaningful & special for family supporters to spend their 3day vacation with the players along.