Participation in the PGA Championship, a major event held next week in the United States, will also become difficult.
Korean men’s golf signboard Im Seong-jae (24, CJ Korea Express, photo) gave up his participation in the Woori Financial Championship on the Korea Professional Golf (KPGA) Korean Tour following being diagnosed with the new coronavirus infection (Corona 19). As he went into self-quarantine for seven days, it became difficult to participate in the PGA Championship, the second major tournament of the season, which kicked off on the 20th at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA.
The KPGA announced on the 12th that “Sungjae Im was diagnosed with the virus in the morning and withdrew from the tournament.” The Woori Finance Championship, which opened at the Ferrum Club (par 72) in Yeoju, Gyeonggi, was hosted by Woori Financial Group, one of Lim’s sponsors.
In the first round, Im Seong-jae was scheduled to play with Park Sang-hyeon (39, Dong-A Pharmaceutical), who took first place in Genesis Points on the Korean Tour, and Kim Bio (32, Hoban Construction), the winner of last week’s GS Caltex Maekyung Open.
Im Seong-jae, who returned to Korea last week, planned to stand in front of domestic fans through this tournament following two years and seven months since the Genesis Championship in October 2019, when he won the championship.
In order to participate in this tournament, he also skipped three tournaments on the PGA Tour, including this week’s AT&T Byron Nelson Tournament. On the 10th, he went to a practice round and press conference, and on the 11th he also played a pro-am competition to show his enthusiasm.
Correspondent Hong-gu Kang windup@donga.com
