S. Korea-China golf event also scuttled by THAAD

Posted on : 2017-03-23 15:42 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
China requests postponement of golf tour scheduled for June, the latest act of retaliation over THAAD
Footage from CCTV 5+
Footage from CCTV 5+

The Korea Professional Golfers’ Association (KPGA) announced on Mar. 22 that the KEB Hana Bank Invitational event scheduled for mid-June on the South Korea-China tour had been postponed at China’s request.

“It has been tentatively decided that South Korea will be hosting the event around June 2018,” the association added.

The KPGA, headed by president Yang Hwee-boo, explained that the China Golf Association (CGA) “recently sent a message requesting a postponement, stating that there were ‘too many issues to hold a jointly certified tournament, including Chinese coverage issues, and too little preparation time,’ and asking for understanding from the title sponsor KEB Hana Bank.”

But China’s abrupt request for the tournament’s postponement appears to be part of its retaliatory measures in response to South Korea’s deployment of the THAAD missile defense system.

The tournament was scheduled to take place over four days starting on Jun. 15 at Lakeside Country Club in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, with 156 pro golfers from South Korea and China (71 from South Korea, 70 from China, and 15 wild cards) and a total purse of 800 million won (US$714,200). Six South Korea-China tour events had been held over a three-year period starting in 2008, alternating between the two sides, and an agreement had been reached to stage another at the KPGA’s suggestion.

China’s CCTV network drew criticism for deliberating avoiding showing the face of eventual champion Kim Hae-rym, 28, in its coverage of the SGF67 World Ladies Championship. The inaugural event of the Korean Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) tour’s 2017 season, held at Mission Hills Country Club in Haikou, China, was won in a playoff on Mar. 19 by Kim, who was wearing a Lotte logo. Even the network’s shot of the winning putt only showed Kim’s feet. Once her victory was assured, she was filmed only from a distance, so that both she and her logo could barely be seen - the apparent result of Kim being sponsored by Lotte, which provided a site for the THAAD battery.

By Kim Kyung-moo, senior staff writer

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