Shin Sang-hoon looks to hold off Jang Yu-bin, Jeong Chan-min at KPGA season finale

The winner of the 2026 KPGA Tour Genesis Award will be decided in Jeju. Shin Sang-hoon enters the season finale as the points leader, with Jang Yu-bin and Jeong Chan-min both in position to overtake him, while Song Min-hyuk makes a last-ditch bid of his own.

The KPGA Tour Championship in Jeju, the tour's season-ending event, runs four days starting Thursday at the Valley and Teddy courses of Teddy Valley Golf & Resort in Seogwipo, Jeju (par 72, 7,332 yards). The tournament carries a total purse of 1.1 billion won ($820,000), with a winner's share of 220 million won. A field of 61 players — drawn from the top 70 in Genesis Points standings — will compete in a 72-hole stroke-play format with no cut.

The Genesis Award race is the tournament's central storyline. Shin leads with 5,339.01 points, ahead of Jang in second place at 5,136.75 and Jeong in third at 5,064.77 — gaps of 202.26 and 274.24 points, respectively. With 1,000 Genesis Points on offer for the winner and 600 for the runner-up, all three players can clinch the award outright with a victory, regardless of how the others finish.

Shin has been in strong form since winning the Golfzon Open in September, posting top-10 finishes in all five events he entered afterward. Over the full season, he has recorded nine top-10 finishes across 18 tournaments.

"The points gap is close enough that I can't afford to let my guard down," Shin said. "I expect a lot of wind, so I'll play low trajectories and try to use it to my advantage."

Jang has two wins and three runner-up finishes this season. He moved up to second in the Genesis Points standings after finishing runner-up at last week's Lexus Masters. A second career Genesis Award — following his 2024 title — would make him the first two-time winner since Choi Jin-ho claimed the honor in both 2016 and 2017, a gap of roughly nine years.

Jeong has reached the top 10 seven times this season, including a victory at The Charity Classic last month. He also leads the tour in scoring average, birdie rate and par-break rate this season.

Fourth-placed Song Min-hyuk (4,628.69 points) still has a mathematical chance, but the path is narrow: Song must win, while Shin must finish 10th or lower, Jang fourth or lower, and Jeong third or lower.

The Genesis Award winner receives a bonus of 200 million won, a Genesis vehicle, a five-year KPGA Tour exemption, a one-year DP World Tour card and a direct berth into the final stage of the PGA Tour Qualifying School.

The season money title is also undecided heading into the finale. Jang leads with 784.46 million won in earnings, but Choi Chan in second place at 607.68 million won — and as far back as fifth-placed Shin at 570.86 million won — remain within striking distance.

A victory for Jang this week would push his season earnings past 1 billion won, making him a two-time member of that club after first achieving the mark in 2024.

Defending champion Park Sang-hyun is chasing both a title defense and a historic milestone: becoming the first player in KPGA Tour history to surpass 6 billion won in domestic career earnings. Park currently sits at 5.98 billion won, and a finish of tied ninth or better — assuming no more than one other player shares that position — would carry him past the mark.

"My goal as defending champion is to go back-to-back," Park said. "I'm good at handling wind, so I'm feeling confident."

Bae Yong-jun, who won last week's Lexus Masters, arrives looking to win in consecutive starts. Bae also claimed the KPGA Classic in Jeju last year, and another victory would give him wins in Jeju in back-to-back years.