▲ Jang Yu-bin smiles brightly.
Jang Yu-bin, who is aiming for his second consecutive victory on the Korea Professional Golfers' Association (KPGA) Tour, finished in a tie for 8th place on the first day of the Hana Bank Invitational.
In the first round of the tournament held at Namchuncheon Country Club in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, Jang shot a 2-under-par, carding three birdies and one bogey.
He currently sits in a tie for 8th place, two strokes behind co-leaders Wang Jeung-hun and Kang Yoon-seok, who both finished at 4-under-par.
Jang, who won last week's KPGA Classic with I'm Vita, is now challenging for back-to-back wins.
After winning the Player of the Year and Money List titles in 2024, Jang became the first Korean player to join LIV Golf last year. However, after failing to produce notable results, he returned to the domestic tour this year, securing his first win since his return and the fourth victory of his career at last week's tournament.
Wang Jeung-hun and Kang Yoon-seok are tied for the lead at 4-under-par, while Hwang In-choon, Moon Dong-hyun, Kim Chan-woo, Cho Min-gyu, and Jan Schneider (Germany) are tied for 3rd place at 3-under-par.
The tournament, which features a total prize purse of 1.3 billion won and a winner's prize of 260 million won, will run through this Sunday, June 21.
(Photo: Provided by KPGA, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.