Kyungnam Kang, one of Korea’s most experienced campaigners, laid down a marker on the opening day of the GS Caltex Maekyung Open today shooting an imperious bogey-free six-under-par 65 to take the lead here at one of the country’s venerable old venues Namseoul Country Club, south Seoul.
The 41-year-old, an 11-time winner on the Korean PGA Tour, made six birdies – including four in a row from the 12th – and has one-shot lead over his compatriots Jang Yubin and Woohyun Kim, Canadian Richard T. Lee and Miguel Carballo from Argentina.
Kang has been a professional for 20 years but has never won on the Asian Tour.
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He’s made the perfect start to try and add that feather to his cap and record his first victory since 2021.
He said: “I’ve played a lot in Namseoul. It’s a difficult course every time I play it, but I made a lot of birdies today, so I gained a lot of confidence.
“It’s a good performance considering I have a bad back. I withdrew from the first event on the Korean PGA Tour season last month because of it. It was even hurting when I was breathing. It is still not great.”
Despite the injury the Korean says he is fully focused on winning as many times as possible in the twilight of his career.
“I hope to win 15 or more games until I retire. Sanghyun Park has 12 wins, I have 11 wins. Sanghyun is an excellent player and I want to catch him,” added Kang, who says he does Pilates for one or two hours every day and: “I ride my bike for 50 minutes whether it’s early evening or early morning. I’m just trying to take care of myself.”
Jang’s excitement at competing in this week’s event for the first time since turning professional was behind his fine start.
He finished tied eighth last year at a venue he has played many times as a member of the Korean amateur team and his familiarity with the course was evident as he moved into contention making six birdies and one bogey.
The 21-year-old is one of Korea’s hottest properties having been part of the Korean team that won gold at last October’s Hangzhou Asian Games – the event that marked his last appearance as an amateur.
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At the start of this year Jang targeted the three events he wanted to win the most and the GS Catltex Maekyung Open was one of them.
“I have taken a step forward,” said Jang.
“When I played in professional tournaments before as an amateur, I was very nervous, so I didn’t play well. Now I’m not nervous.
“I gained so much experience participating here before as an amateur. That experience has helped me, and I feel like I have improved since last year.”
In the Hong Kong Open, soon after the Asian Games and in his first event overseas as a professional, he shot a stunning closing round seven-under-par 63 to finish solo fifth.
And in the early season events on the Korean PGA Tour he has also been in the running: finishing fourth, joint sixth and tied 24th.
Carballo is the surprise package at the end of day one, but perhaps he shouldn’t be bearing in mind he shot 66 on the opening day last year to sit in third place. He eventually tied for 35th.
The veteran golfer has done well in an event traditionally dominated by Korean golfers. The most recent overseas player to win was Mark Calcavecchia from the United States in 2004.
“I like the golf course,” said the 45-year-old.
“I hit the fairways and I hit the greens, and the putting was working. This year the first couple of tournaments I played well, but the putter wasn’t working. The scoring wasn’t coming but the last two tournaments I played very good, the putter is not very good but it’s working.”
