The PGA Tour, which opened the Sentry Tournament of Champions last week at the Kapalua Plantation Course in Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii, USA, will move to Oahu, Hawaii, from the 13th to the 16th (Korean time) to host the Sony Open.
It’s the same Hawaii Island, but the course is completely different. If the Kapalua Plantation course is characterized by a good view and dramatic elevation change by using the natural terrain as it is, Oahu’s Waialay CC (par 70, 7,044 yards) was created by 안전놀이터 benchmarking the classic courses of Scotland and the US mainland on a flat terrain.
Created next to the Kahala residential area near Diamond Head near Honolulu, the capital of Hawaii, this course was designed by Seth Reyner and opened in 1927, then renovated in 1992 by British Desmond Muirhead. went through
The wide sandy beach around the golf course, the green sea behind it, the sky at sunset and the wine-colored sea reminiscent of Mother Nature’s palette make you realize that this is the home of the gods.
The course with 83 bunkers is surrounded by coconut palm trees. In particular, it is more famous for the ‘W’ created by 4 palm trees behind the green of the 16th hole.
This ‘W’ was completed in 2010, but its history goes back more than 50 years. The seed was the movie ‘It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World’ that Ethan Abbott, a member of the Y.A. Ray Club, saw when he was 10 years old.
It is a 1963 film directed by Stanley Kramer, who is famous for ‘Black and White’ starring Sidney Poitier. Hollywood stars such as Spencer Tracy and Sid Caesar appear in a competition to find $350,000 hidden under a ‘W’ shaped tree in a fictional city in California. I had a dream to make a ‘W’ on the course. After becoming a member of Waialay CC as an adult, he made every effort to make the letter ‘W’ with palm trees, and in 2010, ‘Palm Tree W’ was completed.
Beginning with the Hawaii Open in 1965, PGA Tour events have been held on this course. In 1998, when Sony took over as sponsor, the name was changed to Sony Open. Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Ben Crenshaw, Hale Irwin, Lanny Watkins, Mark Omera, Corey Pavin, Jim Furyk, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Korean-American Kevin Na won the championship, and Hideki Matsuyama is the defending champion.
Japan’s Isao Aoki won the event in 1983, becoming the first Japanese to win the PGA Tour. After Hideki Matsuyama won last year, he became the first Japanese to win the Masters, a major. As a Korean player, Choi Kyung-ju won the 2008 event in a wire-to-wire. In 2006, Michelle Wie, who had a reputation as a genius golfer at the time, participated in this tournament, but was eliminated from the cut.
Along with Kim Joo-hyung, Im Seong-jae (25), Lee Gyeong-hun (32), Kim Si-woo (28), An Byeong-hun (32), Kim Seong-hyeon (25), Noh Seung-yeol (32), and ‘eldest brother’ Choi Gyeong-ju (52) will participate as Korean players. 안전놀이터
PGA Tour.com put Kim Joo-hyung (21) at the top of the 15 power rankings that predict the winner of this tournament. This proves that the PGA Tour recognizes his terrifying rise. Im Seong-jae was included in the 6th place in the power rankings. 2013 Sony Open winner Russell Henry, 3rd Jordan Spieth, 4th Corey Connors, and 5th Brian Herman were ranked second in the power rankings.
For Kim Joo-hyung, Waialay CC is the first course he has encountered, but the PGA Tour showed expectations, saying, “Kim Joo-hyung goes against the historical trend,” giving an example of his performance at the Kapalua tournament. Only two times in the history of the Sony Open have a first-timer won the tournament.
Another emergency of Kim Joo-hyung is expected in Honolulu, Hawaii.
*Columnist Minjun Bang: majored in Korean literature at Seoul National University, joined the Hankook Ilbo and worked as a journalist for 30 years. In his late thirties, he explored the infinite world of golf, encounters and jungles, and wrote various golf books. To him, the years entangled with golf are perceived as a path of seeking and a voyage to find the philosophy that penetrates life.