When Bio Kim tees it up at the GS Caltex Maekyung Open Golf Championship at Namseoul Country Club tomorrow he will be doing so at a course where he’s had so much success throughout his career: he won the event last year, and in 2012, while he also claimed the prestigious Korean Amateur Golf Championship here in 2008.
Remarkably, he also tied for fourth in 2007 – when he made his debut on the Asian Tour as a teenager – and was equal third the following season, on both occasions as an amateur.
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“It’s good, I mean it’s always nice to be defending champion, so hopefully I can defend the title”, said the 32-year-old Korean, who conveniently lives not far from the course, located in Seoul.
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“It felt great [last year], I just have a lot of good memories at the Namseoul golf course. I’ve had two wins at the Maekyung, and I’ve won the Korean Amateur Championship here when I was 18 years old. So, I do have some good memories, but it’s a tough golf course!”
To the surprise of many Kim has not won since lifting the trophy here last year. That victory was supposed to be a catalyst for more success during what was his first full season playing on the Asian Tour. He eventually finished second on the Tour’s Order of Merit and was the Rookie of the Year, but he only came close to winning again at the International Series Korea, where he was runner up.
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Coming into last year’s event he was playing some of the best golf of his career and had notched seven top-10 finishes. However, this time around he just has the one: a tied-fourth finish at the recent World City Championship presented by Hong Kong Golf Club, which was a giant result as it earned him a place in this year’s Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in July, as the tournament was part of the Open Qualifying Series. It will mark the first time he has played in The Open and will be only his third appearance in a Major.
With that on the horizon and a strong desire to improve on his current Order of Merit position, which is 26th, he is hoping to get back on track this season by reviving the memories of his magical Maekyung win a year ago.
Says Kim: “I felt confident that week. I had some success over the last few years on this course, and then heading toward the tournament, especially last year, I was going into it in pretty good form. I was having a lot of top 10s going into that week, so I was looking forward to it. I didn’t know I was going to actually win, but you know, I like that golf course, so I had some good positive vibes.”
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The Namseoul layout is known on Tour as a stern test because of the demanding greens and elevation changes, add windy conditions and difficult pin positions on the weekend, and the mere idea of winning a tournament here is inconceivable to many.
Having started the final round four shots ahead of the chasing pack, Kim arrived at the 72nd hole with a two-shot advantage. He says: “The tough par-four 18th, I was two shots ahead and my driver went right into the woods and my contender was in the fairway. I thought that he was gonna make a birdie, and then somehow, I had to imagine myself making par or at the worst-case bogey. I did that [made a bogey], and that was probably one of the hardest shots to hit out of the woods, that was probably the shot of the day.”
He ended up defeating compatriot Mingyu Cho by two shots.
Asked about his key to winning at Namseoul, Kim says: “To be honest, I don’t know. Just that us Korean golfers grew up on this golf course, we play Korean amateur events here and play several rounds on the Namseoul golf course, so I think that helps. And you know, it’s a tough golf course, you have to be dialed in with everything, you need to putt well, irons and putting and everything. So yeah, I mean hopefully I can keep doing what I’ve been doing at Namseoul. I just have to put myself in good positions and I’ll be pretty aggressive off the tee, but you know, we’ll see how it goes.”
