Kolon Korea Open Rd 4: What They Said
Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) – Final round 72 (+1), Total 278 (-6)
I’m really honoured to win the National Open of Korea. This is a really tough course. I got away with most of it but still struggled towards the ends. I got off to a good start today and I was like flying until that triple-bogey.
It has happened to me earlier at the PGA Championship. I was playing well on the front nine as well. The exact same thing happened. I made the same easy mistake to make a big number and couldn’t recover. I thought I learned well from my experience at the PGA Championship.
I told myself not to think about it and just keep moving forward. Made another bogey on 14 unfortunately but I told myself to just grind it out and try not to make anymore big numbers. The course is really hard. I got away at the end of the day but not unscathed.
There aren’t many scoreboards out there but I knew I had a one-shot lead heading into the last because someone shouted. I knew I just need to make a par there but then I was thinking he might make birdie so I hit my driver down anyway.
I hit it in the rough though but I saw he miss the putt when I stood in the rough. Then I told myself to lay up now, hit it close but didn’t make that birdie putt unfortunately. I knew from the start that Rickie Fowler was the last foreigner to win this tournament in 2011.
It’s really a huge honour to win the National Open of Korea and become the next one after Rickie. It just shows how strong the players on the Korean Tour are. I did feel the nerves out there, especially after that triple-bogey. I didn’t know what was going on for a moment.
I am really proud of myself that I manage to get the job done. It’s good to be back at the top on the Asian Tour Order of Merit now but it’s still a long way to go this season. I am not sure what Scott (Hend) plans to do now that he saw me winning but if he does come back to challenge, I’m sure it will be an interesting battle.
Innchoon Hwang (Kor) – Final round 70 (-1), Total 279 (-5)
The main goal for today was to win the tournament of course. I tried my best and the end result is a runner-up finish. I am happy with my result and I am excited to go to The Open Championship next month. I’m really looking forward to playing at Royal Portrush.
The Open was a championship I grew up watching on television and always wanted to play in so to qualify today is unbelievable. It’s a great honour to be playing in my first major championship and it is something that all golfers dream about.
Chan Kim (Kor) – Final round 68 (-3), Total 280 (-4)
It was a tough round. There are a lot of tough pins out there. To be honest, the conditions are better. The roughs aren’t that long so you can actually get it on the greens or somewhere close. The key for this week was to be able to get up and down. Whoever can do that will do well.
I made a few good par-saves today. On the 11th, after making a bogey on 10th, I chipped it to about seven-feet and made that. Hit a good shot from the rough on 12th and made a five-footer for birdie there. Made a few more putts after that which was nice.
The game’s been feeling good. It’s nice to secure another top-three finish. Hopefully I can get a win soon.
Dongkyu Jang (Kor) – Final round 72 (+1), Total 281 (-3)
I last played in The Open in 2014 when I won the Mizuno Open and back then I didn’t really know what to expect from links golf but I am sure that the experience will count in may favour at Royal Portrush and I’m really looking forward to it.
I’m also looking forward to playing in front of the Irish fans who are very passionate about golf and who hopefully will give me lots of support when I play there.
Scott Vincent (Zim) – Final round 68 (-3), Total 285 (+1)
I played well today. I did so many things well, a lot better than how I did the last three days. I hit nine fairways today and that gave me some opportunities to attack the pins, instead of playing defensive.
It was nice to hit that many fairways and make a good score from there. It’s good to finish the week with a good round. Coming off a victory in Japan, I had a few high expectations so it was great to play well.
The course is very tough this week as you can see from the scores. You knew it was going to play tough so you just had to get your mind right before you start the day.
Yes, Jazz is using my putter this week. We might have to renegotiate our contact (laughs). But no, he’s going to keep it. He’s doing really well with the long putter and I am very happy for him.