The Korea Professional Golf Association (KPGA) Korean Tour’s only match-play event, the Descent Korea Matchplay (800 million won in prize money), is introducing a new way to crown a winner.
The Descente Korea Matchplay will be held at Kingsdale GC (Par 72) in Cheongju, Chungcheongbuk-do, for four days starting next month.
Until last year, the rankings were determined by the total number of wins by the players in the round of 16 and the number of wins per hole, which led to some upsets when the player with the most wins did not win the title.
This year, we’ve changed things up. The 64 players will be divided into 16 groups and play a group stage to determine the round of 16. From there, the tournament will be a true head-to-head competition to determine the overall winner.
In the group stage, teams earn two points for a win, one point for a draw, and no points for a loss. If there is a tie for first place, the tournament will go into sudden death overtime.
To add to the excitement, the quarterfinalists will play a ranking match. Players who don’t make it to the finals will also play a third- or fourth-place match to decide the winner.
On June 1, two group stage matches will be played in one day. On June 2, three group games will determine the round of 16. On June 3, the round of 16 and quarterfinals will be held together. On June 4, the semifinals will be played in the morning and the final match will be played in the afternoon for the championship.
The 64 players have been assigned to five seeding groups. Seeded A are the winners of the 2022 KPGA Korean Tour (15 players). Group B is the 2023 KPGA Korean Tour winners (3), and Group C is the 2022 Genesis Points leaders (13). The D-seeded group is comprised of recommended players (1) and the E-seeded group is comprised of round of 64 qualifiers (32).
In the A-seeded group, last year’s Genesis Point leader Kim Young-soo should have been seeded first, but he will not be participating in the tournament. As a result, Seo Yoseop, who finished second in Genesis Points, is the No. 1 seed. Jang Hee-min, who had the lowest Genesis Point among last year’s winners, is seeded 15th.
The B-seed group, which includes this year’s winners, will be seeded in the order of their victories. Defending champion Go Gun-taek is seeded 16, SK Telecom Open winner Baek Seok-hyun is seeded 17, and Kim Dong-min, who won the KB Financial Live Championship last week, is seeded 18.
Jo Woo-young, who won the Golf Zone Open in Jeju as an amateur, Korea Championship winner Pablo Larrazabal, GS Caltex Mae Kyung Open champion Chung Chan-min and Woori Financial Championship winner Lim Sung-jae will not compete.스포츠토토
The C-seeded group are the 2022 Genesis Point leaders, excluding players in the A- and B-seeded groups. The D-seeded group will be led by organizer’s pick Lee Jae-kyung, and the E-seeded group will be seeded 33 through 64 in order of their ranking in the round of 64.
The tournament will be broadcast live from the round of 64 to the final on SBS Golf 2, the KPGA’s official broadcasting organization. SBS Golf 2 is available on IPTV on GENIE TV 992, LGU+ 99, SKB 969, and satellite on SkyLife 219.