Korean golf tournament offers cryptocurrency prize

Whoever takes the KLPGA's Wemix Championship title in November will not receive a single won for their win, instead walking away with a pocket full of cryptocurrency.

Whoever takes the KLPGA's Wemix Championship title in November will not receive a single won for their win, instead walking away with a pocket full of cryptocurrency.

The Wemix Championship, set to tee off at Haeundae Beach Golf & Resort in Busan, will be the first KLPGA Tour event to offer prize pot made up entirely of cryptocurrency, in this case Wemix, a cryptocurrency issued by game publisher Wemade.

Wemade is predominantly a video game developer with over 40 mobile games in its catalog, including The Legend of Mir that has over 500 million users.

The Wemix Championship will take place after the last official event of the season, making it an exhibition event. Only 24 golfers will get the chance to compete in the crypto championship: The top 20 golfers on the season-long Wemix point ranking and four invitees.

They will compete with a total of 1 million Wemix on the line, although Wemade did not confirm how many tokens the winner would get.

The Wemix Championship is not the only way for KLPGA golfers to earn Wemix, however, as the top 60 golfers with the most Wemix points at the end of a season also receive their share of a 500,000 Wemix prize pot, divided between them.

Wemix is currently valued at $0.56 as of 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday. With the top Wemix point finisher taking 90,000 Wemix, Lee Ye-won, who currently sits in first place, could be on tract to take just over $50,000 at the end of the season.

The Wemix Championship will have an unusual format, with a mix of match play and stroke play. Match play is a form of play where a golfer competes directly against an opponent on a hole-by-hole basis. Each hole is a separate competition and the winner of each hole earns a point. The golfer with more points at the end becomes the winner.

Stroke play is a system where the golfer with the fewest strokes throughout a round wins the event.

During the first round of the Wemix Championship, the top 12 golfers on the Wemix rankings compete against the bottom 12 in a match play format.

The 12 winners and 12 losers of the first round will be split into Final A and B respectively the next day and compete in a stroke play format.

The winner of Final A will be the ultimate winner of the competition, while Final B will determine the 13th to 24th place finishers.

The Wemix Championship will tee off on Nov. 18.

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