Among the 24 tournaments of the Korea Men’s Professional Golf (KPGA) Tour scheduled for this year, major tournaments such as the GS Caltex Maekyung Open, SK Telecom Open and Kolon Korea Open will be broadcast on the JTBC Golf channel as in last year.
JTBC Golf, which has been broadcasting the KPGA Korean Tour since 2010, starts the 42nd GS Caltex Maekyung Open (total prize money of 1.2 billion won) co-hosted by the Korea Golf Association (KGA) and the Asian Tour at Namseoul Country Club in Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do on the 4th of next month. It was decided to broadcast live the three major events of history and tradition representing Korean men’s golf.
Since its inception in 1982, the Maekyung Open, dubbed the ‘Korean Masters’, has served as a herald of the golf season in Korea. JTBC Golf plans to additionally produce a 90-minute on-site preview program on Wednesday, the day before the tournament, to cover the history and viewing points of the Maekyung Open.
In addition, the average broadcast time of each round has been increased from last year to 6 hours for rounds 1 and 2, and 5.5 hours for rounds 3 and 4. Through the JTBC Golf & Sports Channel, a rebroadcast was organized just before the live broadcast. As such, the thrill of the male golfer’s exciting shot will be delivered to viewers through both channels.
This year, JTBC Golf decided to enhance the taste of watching golf games through advanced golf relay broadcasting technology that graphically shows the trajectory of the second shot as well as the tee shot. In relation to this, Park Sang-hyun, who won two wins at the Maekyung Open, appears in the golf preview program ‘Clubhouse’, which airs at 9:00 pm on Mondays on JTBC Golf, and talks about winning the tournament.
Kim Bio, who won the SK Telecom Open last year [Photo = KPGA]
Two weeks after the Maekyung Open, the SK Telecom Open 2023 with a total prize of 1.3 billion won will be broadcast at the Pinx Golf Club in Jeju Island from May 18 to 21. This competition, which started in 1997, has been held 24 times until last year, except for 2020 when Corona 19 was raging.
SK Telecom Open showcased fresh and cutting-edge communication technologies every year. Two years ago, in the last 2021 competition, a new concept metabus relay live was attempted, and last year, an autonomous delivery robot that grafted information and communication technology (ICT) such as artificial intelligence (AI) appeared at the competition site to provide a different sight.
Also, JTBC Golf will broadcast live the 65th Kolon Korea Open from June 22nd to 25th at Ujeong Hills Country Club in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province. The Korea Open, co-hosted by the KGA and the Asian Tour, provides a privilege of giving tickets to the Open to two players, including the winner and the runner-up.
Cho Min-gyu (left) and Kim Min-gyu, who won the Korea Open last year and received the right to participate in the Open [Photo = Korea Open Organizing Committee] It has
continued its reputation as the largest major golf tournament representing Korea every year, and has been followed by Choi Kyung-ju, Bae Sang-moon, Yang Yong-eun, Kim Dae-seop, Lee Kyung-hun, and Vijay Singh, It is famous for being a national title tournament in which world-class players such as Rickie Fowler lifted trophies. The
Korea Open has been the gateway to birth of stars representing Korea while showing the highest ratings among men’s tournaments every year. In addition, Choi Ho-sung’s ‘fisherman’s swing’ became famous through the JTBC golf relay video at this tournament, which was broadcast all over the world.
The KPGA Korean Tour will hold a total of 24 tournaments, starting with the DB Insurance Promy Open on the 13th at Ravi Ebel Golf Course in Chuncheon, Gangwon-do, and ending with the LG Signature Players Championship on November 9th.
However, the KPGA Secretariat,스포츠토토 which leads the Korean Tour, boasted that it would hold 25 tournaments this year, but recently canceled the 00 Open, which was scheduled for the end of June, and only posted it as an announcement. As a result, concerns about the secretariat led by Chairman Koo Ja-cheol are growing.
In addition, at the association general meeting last month, on the pretext that the budget bill was not passed, it arbitrarily canceled the opening game of the Champions Tour, in which pros over the age of 50 participate, drawing complaints from members. In addition, in the Srixon Tour, the second division, an incident occurred due to moral hazard, in which a tournament was played with a hole cup that was larger than the standard in the preliminary round and was canceled belatedly.