’48, 49′ Baek Seok-hyun “It feels good to know the name”

Won SK Telecom Open 10 years after debut
Disclosure of weight loss of 62 kg, successful installation of ‘No Look Putt’
“Focus on Korea this year, Asian tour next year”

Baek Seok-hyun is ‘unnamed’.

He made his debut on the Korean Tour of the Korea Professional Golf Association (KPGA) in 2014, but his name was not known. When he was in middle school, he went to Thailand to study golf and lived there for 16 years. He also made his professional debut in Thailand. He mainly works on the Asian tour, so it is unfamiliar to domestic fans. When the Asian Tour shrank due to the global spread of Corona 19, he moved the stage to the Korean Tour from 2021, but as the 60th place in the prize money rankings last year tells us, he failed to make a strong impression. The story of his weight reduction from 140kg to 80kg became known and became a hot topic for a while.

Baek Seok-hyun succeeded in escaping unknown. On the 21st, he won the ‘Wire to Wire’ championship at the SK Telecom Open (total prize money of 1.3 billion won), which ended at Pinx Golf Club in Seogwipo-si, Jeju-do. He debuted on his Korean Tour and completed his first win in 49 events. Including non-member status, he won the Korean Tour 56th appearance and received 260 million won in prize money. This is more than the total prize money of 230.51 million won earned in 48 competitions before this tournament.

Baek Seok-hyun cheered, “I didn’t know I was feeling like this. I’m so happy that I can’t express it in words.” Baek Seok-hyun got married in December last year. He smiled, saying, “I wanted to show a good image to my wife, father-in-law, and mother-in-law. I was happy to show a good image in the first and second rounds, but it continued until the championship.” .

Baek Seok-hyun also recalled the story of losing weight, which was once over 140kg in 2019 with this championship. He recalled, “I decided to lose weight and didn’t eat any carbohydrates or salt for three months,” and “I lost 62 kg in eight months.” He continued, “I don’t weigh more than 100kg now.”

Baek Seok-hyun pulled out a bunch of birdies with the so-called ‘no look putt’, putting after seeing the hole, not the ball, from a distance of less than 4m. Baek Seok-hyeon said, “In the final round today, I putt after looking at the cup and overcame the crisis. The no-look putt was a temporary measure in this tournament. From the next tournament, he said he would use a bloomstick putter and putt normally while looking at the ball. He said, “The bogey putt that determines the victory I didn’t look at the ball or the cup when I was playing. I only saw my hands,” he said, “after putting them in, my hair went white. I didn’t feel like winning.”

By winning this tournament, Seok-hyun Baek has been able to enjoy a stable tour life. He said, “By securing a seed for the 4th year of the regular tour, I bought time to adapt to the Korean turf. . He revealed his future plans, saying, “I want to focus on the domestic tour this year and apply for the Asian Tour Qualifying School at the end of the year to do both the Korean and Asian tours.”