The Korea Professional Golf (KPGA) Korean Tour announced the schedule for the 2023 season. However, there are many tournaments with undecided venues and undecided prize money. Literally, it deserves criticism for ‘hurried announcement’.
On the 23rd, KPGA announced the new season schedule, saying, “The 2023 KPGA Korean Tour will be held in 25 tournaments with a total prize pool of over 25 billion won.” The Korean Tour was held last year with 21 tournaments and a total prize money of 20.3 billion won. Starting with the 18th DB Insurance Promy Open on April 13-16, the season will conclude with the LG Signature Players Championship, which will be held on November 9-12. From April 27 to 30, the Korea Championship, co-hosted by the DP World Tour, will be held. The total prize pool is 2 million dollars. In addition, the Hana Bank Invitational (June 15-18) will be held jointly with the Japan Professional Golf Tour (JGTO).
KPGA Chairman Koo Ja-cheol said, “It is encouraging that the size and value of the tour continues to expand.” However, there are 15 tournaments whose schedule, prize money, and venue have been fully confirmed. Only 60% of all competitions. Among the announced schedules, there are 18 tournaments whose total prize money has been confirmed. The total prize money of the confirmed tournament is 19.65 billion won. KPGA said, “The seven tournaments are still negotiating the size of the total prize money.”
In addition, the OO Championship to be held from June 29th to July 2nd, and the OO Open scheduled from September 28th to October 1st, the location and prize money itself are undecided. Among the tournaments hosted by the Korean Tour alone, the three tournaments with the largest prize money are the Genesis Championship, the 66th KPGA Championship, and the Woori Financial Championship, with a total prize money of 1.5 billion won. Last year, the total prize money for the Genesis Championship and KPGA Championship was 1.5 billion won.
There was also a situation where there was controversy because consultations with the sponsors of the competition were not properly conducted. Immediately after the announcement of the season schedule, KPGA said, ‘There was an issue of changing the tournament name. There was a earnest request from the organizers,’ he said, ‘and it was changed from Descente Korea Munsingwear Match Play to Descente Korea Match Play.’ In addition, in the case of the LG Signature Players Championship, it was found that it was included in the schedule even though it had not yet been decided whether or not to continue the competition itself. 스포츠토토
The Korean Tour has announced the entire schedule about a month before the opening of the new season every year. Among them, there were many cases where the schedule, location, and amount of prize money were not confirmed. Professional golfers who plan and prepare the entire schedule for a season had to suffer from headaches because of the situation different from other professional sports, which usually announce schedules several months in advance.
In the case of last year, the Clevers Open scheduled for October 27-30 was canceled a month before the event due to circumstances from the main sponsor. In addition, at the time of the initial schedule announcement, it was announced that the Asiad Country Club Busan Masters would be held at the end of April, but it was moved to June, and the Woosung Construction Busan Gyeongnam Open, scheduled for July, was delayed by a month.
There are aspects that are compared to the situation of the Korean Women’s Professional Golf (KLPGA) tour. In the case of the KLPGA tour this season, the total prize money of the Hanwha Classic is 1.67 billion won, the highest. It increased from 14 billion won last year. The tournament with the smallest prize money is 700 million won at the KG E-Daily Ladies Open scheduled for early September. On the other hand, the KPGA Korean Tour is the tournament with the largest prize money of 1.5 billion won, including the Genesis Championship and the KPGA Championship, based on solo events. The prize money is the same as last year. In addition, there are four competitions with prize money of 500 million won. The same situation has been going on for 10 years.
Among the players on the Korean Tour, there are many dissatisfaction with the schedule that comes out every year as the season approaches. A player who has been active on the tour for over 10 years hinted, “The main character of the tour is the player, but it is difficult because the schedule and location are not accurate every time.