In the final round of the Korean Professional Golf Association (KPGA) Tour Lexus Masters (total prize money of 1 billion won) held at A1 Country Club (par 72) in Yangsan, Gyeongsangnam-do on the 1st, Lee Seung-taek scored one eagle and six birdies, and blocked one bogey to write a 7-under 65.
Lee Seung-taek, who recorded 18-under 270 strokes overall, beat the joint second-place group (14-under 274) by five strokes to lift his first championship cup.
Winning the championship, Lee clinched the most prize money of his tour career, W200 million. He also received the KPGA Tour seed by 2026, laying the groundwork for stable tour activities.
Lee, who served as a member of the Korean national golf team in 2012, tied for 17th at the 2014 KPGA Tour Qualifying Tournament (QT) and acquired the seed for the regular tour in 2015. Lee has maintained the seed for 10 years since then.
Lee, who joined the military after the end of the 2020 season, played in the Asian tour in the second half of the year after being discharged from the military in 2022. Last year, he performed both the KPGA tour and the Asian tour.
He is 175 centimeters tall, not tall. However, he is nicknamed "Bull Bear" for his driver shots that fly over 300 yards based on his strong lower body.
Lee Seung-taek, who started the final round tied for second place, two strokes behind the lead, failed to put his second shot on the green at the first hole, making a bogey mistake.
It was a good bogey, however. Lee managed to recover from his mistake by birdieing at the third hole and birdieing back-to-back holes at the fourth hole. At the last hole of the first half, Lee showed off his strength to send his tee shot 320 yards, reducing one stroke again.
The game was perfect in the second half. After hitting a 2-meter birdie putt at the 10th hole, Lee made consecutive birdies at the 13th and 14th holes to widen his gap with second place.
The best shot was at the 15th hole (par 5). With a tee shot of 302 yards, Lee put his second shot on the hole about 4 meters away, and successfully completed an eagle putt. He widened the gap with the runner-up by four pars and effectively reserved the championship title. 안전놀이터
After finishing the remaining holes without any major crises, Lee enjoyed his first victory moment after putting in the putt on the green at the 18th hole. His teammates also celebrated his victory with water baptism.
Kim Woo-hyun, Han Seung-soo, Yeom Seo-hyun, and Kang Yoon-seok formed a joint second-place group with 13-under 275 overall. Heo In-hoe, Cho Min-gyu, Hyun Jung-hyup, and Kim Han-byeol finished the competition tied for sixth (12-under 276), and Kim Hong-taek finished the first competition in the second half of the year with a tie for 10th (11-under 277).
