Kim Bio looks to defend title as competitive field gathers for Maekyung Championship

The 42nd GS Caltex Maekyung Open Golf Championship tees off on Thursday at Namseoul Country Club in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, with Kim Bio competing to defend his title.

Kim Bio hits a shot during the second round of the International Series Korea golf tournament at the Lotte Skyhill Country Club in Jeju on Aug. 19, 2022. [AFP/YONHAP]

The 42nd GS Caltex Maekyung Open Golf Championship tees off on Thursday at Namseoul Country Club in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, with Kim Bio competing to defend his title.

A total of 144 golfers are joining the field, including 54 foreign players from countries like Hong Kong, Thailand, Australia, with 300 million won ($224,000) on the line for the winner from a total purse of 1.3 billion won.

The winner will also earn a five-year KPGA Tour card as well as two-year Asian Tour card.

First founded in 1982, a few foreign golfers have won the Maekyung Open. The last one to do so was Mark Calcavecchia of the United States in 2004, who is not competing this year.

Defending champion Kim has seen significant success at the Maekyung Open, having won the event twice in 2012 and 2022.

Kim and two other golfers on the field are looking for their third victory at the Maekyung Open: Park Sang-hyun and Lee Tae-hee.

Park, 40, won the event in 2016 and 2018 and joins the field in good form, having finished third at the DP World Tour’s Korea Championship Presented by Genesis on Sunday. The veteran golfer has won 11 KPGA events in his career.

Lee, who took back-to-back wins in 2019 and 2020, has won four KPGA events total.

Atiruj Winaicharoenchai of Thailand paired with Ma Gwan-woo and Lee Gyu-min will be the first to tee off on the first hole at 6:30 a.m., the same time Taichi Kho of Hong Kong, Mun Do-yeob and Lee Soo-min start on the 10th hole.

Park will then tee off at 6:52 a.m. on the 10th hole with Cho Min-gyu and Jangh Yu-bin, followed by Lee Tae-hee at 7:03 a.m. on the same hole alongside Kim Dong-min and Chan Shih-chang of Taiwan.

The Maekyung Open will be broadcast through JTBC Golf.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]