Spectators are seen at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea in Incheon during the final round of the Shinhan Donghae Open on Sept. 14, 2025.SCREEN CAPTURE
Korea's men's professional golf tour returns Thursday after a nearly two-month summer break with one fewer tournament on its calendar and around 10 players preparing to chase playing rights in Japan.
The Dong-A Membership Group Open at Sollago Country Club in Taean restarts the KPGA circuit after its last event ended June 28. The season, originally announced with 20 tournaments, is now down to 19. That continues a slide from 22 events in 2024 and 20 last year.
KPGA recently removed an October tournament from the schedule. The Ins&Co Invitational, initially planned for September, was rebranded as the Amazingcre Open and shifted to Oct. 8 to 11. It now fills the October slot, but the calendar still has one fewer event.
Large corporate sponsors including SK Telecom and LG Electronics have also stepped away from the men's tour in recent years.
"I met my colleagues for the first time in a while at the pro-am event, and everyone started by talking about their worries," said veteran golfer Moon Kyong-jun. "Players who heard about the tournament cancellation only later were very taken aback. With conditions on the domestic tour getting worse, quite a few colleagues are saying they plan to enter the Japan Golf Tour qualifying tournament that starts in about two weeks."
Around 10 KPGA players are preparing to pursue playing rights through the Japan Golf Tour Organization's qualifying tournament, the JoongAng Ilbo found.
Several are rising stars who have already won on the KPGA Tour this season. Players exempt from the first stage will enter at the second or third stage starting in November, while others are preparing for the Asian Tour's qualifying school late this year.
The Genesis Championship, co-sanctioned by the KPGA Tour and the DP World Tour, gets underway at Woo Jeong Hills Country Club in Cheonan, South Chungcheong, on Oct. 23, 2025.HYUNDAI MOTOR GROUP
Industry figures say the problem goes beyond one canceled tournament. Sponsor departures and weak commercial momentum have shrunk the tour, while years of labor-management disputes have strained the organization. Industry figures also point to the absence of a player with enough star power to build a larger fan base.
"The KPGA Tour's crisis is painfully obvious on the ground," the head of a sports agency said. "Individual player sponsorships are extremely difficult to secure, and it is hard even to find title sponsors for tournaments. Rumors are widespread that there will be even fewer events next year."
KPGA's 19 tournaments carry 25.1 billion won ($18.1 million) in total prize money. By comparison, the KLPGA Tour's official 2026 schedule has 31 tournaments and 34.7 billion won in prize money.
The KPGA Tour will also sit idle for two full weeks after the Dong-A Membership Group Open ends Sunday before the Shinhan Donghae Open begins Sept. 10. That leaves another conspicuous gap during what is normally one of golf's busiest stretches of the year.
"With more than two months without a tournament, I even started questioning whether this is really a profession," said a KPGA player in their 20s on condition of anonymity. "It must be even harder for older players supporting families. If this continues, the number of colleagues leaving for Japan or the Asian Tour could snowball."
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
