‘Monster’ Kim Kyung-tae (37, Shinhan Financial Group) returns to the domestic stage.

KPGA announced through a press release on the 6th that Kim Kyung-tae, who obtained permanent seeding qualification from this season, will be active on the KPGA Korean Tour. The KPGA has eased the category from ’25 or more wins’ to ’20 wins’ and winners of the 4 major tournaments as a permanent seed category.

With this, Kim Kyung-tae became the fifth KPGA Korean Tour permanent seed holder after Choi Sang-ho (68), Choi Kyung-ju (53, SK Telecom), Han Jang-sang (83), Park Nam-shin (64), and Yang Yong-eun (51). Kim Kyung-tae has won a total of 20 wins, including 6 wins in Korea and 14 wins on the Japanese tour.

Kim Kyung-tae said, “It is an honor. He received many congratulations from his family, acquaintances, and senior and junior players. He is proud and rewarding,” he said.

From 2003 to 2006, Kim Kyung-tae was active as a national team member. In 2005 and 2006, he won two consecutive Japanese Amateur Championships. He also reached the top in the KPGA Korean Tour Pocari Energen Open and Samsung Benest Open, which he competed in as an amateur in 2006. And in December of that year, he won two gold medals in the individual and team events at the Doha Asian Games.

Kim Kyung-tae, who made his professional debut in 2007, won the first tournament of his season, the ‘Tomato Savings Bank Open’, and wrote history by winning the debut match for the first time in KPGA history. It is still a ‘one of a kind’ record.

Kim Kyung-tae achieved 3 wins in the first year of his debut season, including the GS Caltex Maekyung Open and the Samneung Apple City Open. Thanks to his performance, at the year-end awards ceremony, he swept the ‘Daesang’, ‘Prize King’, ‘Deokchun Award’, and ‘Myeongchun Award (Rookie Award)’. That’s when he got the nickname ‘Monster’.

Since 2008, he has also performed on Japanese tours and Asian tours. He won three Japanese tours in 2010 and became the first Korean to become the Japan Tour ‘Prize Money King’. Until 2011, he also represented Korea at the Million Yards Cup, the International Team at the Presidents Cup in 2011, and the Asian Team at the Royal Trophy from 2011 to 2013.

In 2015, he won 5 victories on the Japanese tour and won the Japan Tour ‘Grand Prize’ and ‘Prize Money King’. In the following year, 2016, he won 3 wins in 7 tournaments on the Japanese tour.

Kim Kyung-tae said, “Looking back on my life in Japan, 2015 was a year of great significance. After winning the money prize in 2010, the performances in 2013 and 2014 were not good,” he said. He also changed his swing. It was a big adventure, but luckily it was successful,” he said with a laugh. 슬롯사이트

Kim’s most recent win was the 2019 Japan Tour ‘Casio World Open’. Kim Kyung-tae won 14 victories in Japan alone, including winning the Casio World Open. This is the record for the most wins on the Japanese Tour among Korean players. Until last year, the prize money Kim Kyung-tae won in Japan was about 8.9 billion won (948,298,751 yen).

Although Kim Kyung-tae played an active role in Korea and Japan, we could not see Kim Gyeong-tae in Korea last year. In 2021, he participated in 5 KPGA Korean Tour events and lost his seed after only passing the cut in 1 event. 2022 was dedicated to the Japanese tour, but he participated in 17 tournaments and passed the cut in only 7 tournaments. Among them, there was no ‘Top 10’ prize.

Kim Kyung-tae said, “I suffered a lot over the past two years because of my bad back. He is currently recovering well. This year, I will definitely have a healthy season,” he said. “The 2023 season plans to focus on the KPGA Korean Tour. It’s the first time in 16 years since 2007 that I’m only active in Korea, so I’m excited.”

Kim Kyung-tae said, “There has been no domestic championship since 2011. He has been looking for opportunities to win several times, but his greed was excessive. I think it was because of the desire and impatience to win in Korea,” he said. “My goal is to win the KPGA Korean Tour before I retire. If I win, I hope it will be the ‘Shinhan Donghae Open’.

Kim Kyung-tae, who started field training in Thailand on the 25th of last month, is expected to return home at the end of this month or early next month.