Wang Jeong-hun tees off on the ninth hole. [Photo=KPGA]
Wang Jeong-hun tees off on the ninth hole. [Photo=KPGA]

Wang Jeong-hun shares the first-round lead at the Tour Championship, the KPGA Tour's season finale, which carries a purse of 1.1 billion won ($820,000).

Wang carded a bogey-free 4-under-par 68 Thursday at Teddy Valley Golf & Resort's Valley-Teddy course (par 72) in Seogwipo, Jeju Island, making four birdies to share the top of the leaderboard with Ok Tae-hun.

Wang, who claimed this season's rookie of the year award in the final stretch, said after the round: "The wind was really strong today, so I'm very satisfied to have played without a bogey. I'm not sure what the weather will be like over the remaining three days, but I plan to stay composed and play my game even if the wind picks up."

Ok also finished at 4 under, making five birdies against one bogey. After a three-putt bogey on the par-3 third hole, Ok birdied five of the remaining holes. "I trusted my ball flight and used the wind well," he said. "Almost all my tee shots found the fairway, which gave me plenty of opportunities. My putting hasn't been great this year, but as the season winds down I feel like the touch is slowly coming back. (Laughs)"

Kim Min-gyu, returning from LIV Golf, shot a 3-under 69 to share third place — one stroke back — with Jeon Ga-ram, Kim Woo-hyun and Jeong Han-mil. "I had a great experience competing against talented players on a top tour like LIV Golf," Kim said. "But my golf just didn't come together this year. Even when I felt like I was hitting decent shots, I had the feeling all year long that things weren't clicking. It's really disappointing."

Shin Sang-hun, who leads the Player of the Year points standings, shot a 1-over 73 to share 31st place with Jeong Chan-min. Jang Yu-bin, second in the standings, made a quadruple bogey on the par-5 15th hole, taking nine strokes to complete it, and finished at 5-over 77 to share 49th.


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