Jung Chan-min poses with the winner's trophy. [Photo=KPGA]
Jung Chan-min poses with the winner's trophy. [Photo=KPGA]

Long hitter Jung Chan-min claimed a wire-to-wire victory at the KPGA Tour's The Charity Classic, which carried a purse of 200 million won ($149,000), battling through severe weather throughout the tournament.

Jung shot a 4-over-par 76 in the final round Sunday at Seowon Valley Country Club's Valley-Seowon course (par 72) in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, but his three-round cushion proved enough as he finished at 19 under par 269, edging runner-up Shin Sang-hun by one stroke. The final round was disrupted by a weather suspension lasting two hours and 38 minutes.

Jung dropped four shots in the final round — one birdie against three bogeys and a double bogey — yet the leads he built over the first three rounds carried him to the title. The victory was his first of the season and his third on the KPGA Tour overall, coming two years and 11 months after his win at the Golfzon-Toray Open in November 2023.

Jung had set the tone on the opening day, firing a 9-under-par 63 to tie the course record and take sole possession of the lead — a position he never relinquished over four rounds. "A wire-to-wire win is no easy feat, and achieving it here after doing the same at the 2023 GS Caltex MK Open makes me feel that all the hard work has been worth it," he said. "It feels like proof that the effort I have put into golf all this time was never wasted. It feels great to be standing here again after so long."

Entering the final round with a four-stroke lead, Jung did not have a smooth ride to the title. He made his first bogey at the par-3 eighth hole, then wobbled with a damaging double bogey at the par-4 10th before play was halted by deteriorating weather.

After the resumption, Jung bogeyed the par-5 11th as well, but steadied himself by making his only birdie of the day at the par-3 13th. He then missed a short par putt at the par-5 16th, allowing Shin to close to within one stroke.

The pivotal moment came at the par-3 17th. Jung's tee shot found the bunker behind the green, leaving him an awkward stance with his right foot braced against the bunker lip. His bunker shot stopped about three meters from the hole. A miss would have handed Shin a share of the lead, but Jung calmly sank the par putt to preserve his one-stroke advantage. "Making the par save at 17 was when I knew I was going to win," he said. "Once that putt dropped, I felt completely at ease on the last hole."

The victory earned Jung 1,000 Genesis Points, lifting his cumulative total to 4,744.77 and moving him from fourth to second in the Genesis Rankings. Shin, the runner-up, climbed to first with 4,807.94 points, overtaking previous leader Jang Yu-bin, who dropped to third at 4,512.08 points.

"Winning has pushed my Genesis Points ranking up significantly, so my goal has shifted to the Genesis Award," Jung said. "If I win the award, I plan to leave for the United States while the second stage of qualifying is still under way. Even if I don't win it, I intend to depart as scheduled on Nov. 24 and compete in the second stage."


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