Veteran Park Sang-hyun ties for 4th on opening day of Shinhan Donghae Open

Veteran golfer Park Sang-hyun tied for fourth place, one stroke off the lead, after the opening round of the 42nd Shinhan Donghae Open, jointly organized by the Korean PGA and Japan Golf Tour.

Park carded five birdies against one bogey for a 4-under-par 68 on the Urban and Links Course at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea in Songdo, Incheon, a par-72, 7,502-yard layout, on Thursday. He shared fourth place with Jang Yu-bin, Park Eun-shin, Jeon Jae-han, Jeong Han-mil and Oh Seung-taek.

The first-round lead belonged entirely to Japanese players — Aguri Iwasaki, Daichiro Ideriha and Yujiro Ohori all shot 5-under-par 67s.

Starting from the 10th hole, Park picked up two birdies and one bogey on his front nine before adding three more birdies on the back nine to move into contention. A birdie on the fifth hole, a par-3, was followed by consecutive birdies on the final two holes, the eighth and ninth, lifting him into a share of fourth place.

Park, 43 this year, has won 16 times across the Korean (14 wins) and Japanese (two wins) tours and sits atop the KPGA Tour's all-time career earnings list. Since joining the KPGA Tour in 2005, Park has become known for his consistency and self-discipline, becoming the first player in tour history to surpass 5 billion won ($3.74 million) in career earnings and now closing in on the 6 billion won mark.

Park has previously won at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea, the venue for this year's tournament. In 2023, he claimed a dramatic come-from-behind victory at the Genesis Championship, defeating Im Sung-jae and Bae Yong-jun in a playoff. He also has fond memories of a wire-to-wire win at the 34th Shinhan Donghae Open, held at Bears Best Cheongna in 2018.

"My iron shots felt sharp overall today, and that created a lot of birdie chances," Park said after his round. "My putting was not as good as I expected going into the back nine, but I fortunately found my touch again late in the round and finished well with back-to-back birdies."

"This course strangely seems to suit me well," Park added. "The fairways are a bit soft, so my drives do not go as far, which means I often have to attack the greens with mid- or long irons. That is why I focused on sharpening my iron play ahead of this tournament, and it paid off today, giving me plenty of good chances."

Jang Yu-bin also opened with a 4-under card, piling up eight birdies against two bogeys and a double bogey to share fourth place. Starting from the 10th hole, Jang picked up four birdies through the 17th hole but hit his tee shot into the water on the par-5 18th for a double bogey. He recovered with three straight birdies on the first through third holes and added four more on the back nine.

Jang, who already has two wins this season, said, "I am satisfied with how I finished the first round, so I am looking forward to the rest of the tournament. On this course, avoiding bogeys matters more than piling up birdies. I want to play safely hole by hole while still being aggressive when I need to be. Since this tournament is hosted by our title sponsor, I really want to finish with a strong result."

Kim Seong-hyun and Moon Do-yeop, both named to the national team for the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, each shot 3-under-par 69s to share 10th place. They were joined by Song Young-han, Hwang Jung-gon, Park Il-hwan, Kim Baek-jun, Kim Bi-o, Lee Tae-hoon of Canada and national team member Yu Min-hyeok.

The tournament carries a purse of 1.5 billion won, with 300 million won going to the winner, who will also earn a five-year exemption on the KPGA Tour and a two-year exemption on the Japan Golf Tour.