The tournament, with a total purse of 1 billion won, will be played April 16-19 at Lavieest Belle Golf & Resort’s Old Course (par 72) in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province. The winner earns a three-year tour exemption (2027-2029) and 1,000 Genesis Points.
It is the KPGA Tour season opener for the 12th time, held in that role from 2014-2019 and from 2021-2026. Title sponsor DB Insurance has been a tour title sponsor for the 21st time since starting with the 48th KPGA Championship, the Dongbu Fire Promy Cup, in 2005.
A main storyline is the showdown between Ok Tae-hoon and Jang Yu-bin, who dominated the tour after winning the Genesis Grand Prize in 2025 and 2024, respectively.
Ok, who won three times last year and made the cut in all 18 events while also taking the money title, the low-scoring award and the most improved player honor, said he is focused on steady execution.
“Last year was such a great year, so of course I’d like to have good results again this year,” Ok said. “But things don’t always go the way you want, so I’ll just do my best with what I’m given.”
He added, “My season goals are to make the cut in every event and win three times.”
Ok said his putting has been off recently.
“I thought I was putting poorly, but I think it was because my distance control wasn’t right,” he said. “If I putt well this week, I think I can get a good result.”
“My goal this season is the Genesis Grand Prize,” Jang said. “I think the most important thing is to go back to basics and stay focused every tournament. I used training camp to work on getting my swing feel and performance back, and my condition has improved a lot. I’ll show the fans a good side of me.”
He said he plans to focus on execution rather than results in the season’s first event.
“As it’s the first tournament of the season, I’ll focus more on carrying out what I prepared than on the pressure of results,” Jang said. “My goal is to build momentum with steady course management and start the first event on a positive note.”
Defending champion Kim Baek-jun also draws attention as he tries to repeat. Kim won last year at 11-under 273 for his first career title, coming in his 19th start on tour.
Kim, who listed multiple wins and the Genesis Grand Prize as his goals this season, said the title defense brings both excitement and nerves.
“It’s my first time defending a title, so I feel excited and at the same time nervous,” Kim said. “It’s a course where I won my first title, so I have good memories. I really want to successfully defend.”
He added, “I got through last season without a second-year slump, so as I prepared for this season I also felt pressure that I have to do even better. But I prepared well in the offseason, so I’m looking forward to it.”
Sponsor-backed player Kim Hong-taek is another to watch. He tied for fifth two weeks ago at the Asian Tour’s International Series Japan.
“Because it’s my main sponsor’s tournament, I’m more excited than for other events,” Kim Hong-taek said. “Last year I couldn’t finish because of a back injury, and that was very disappointing. That’s why I paid more attention to taking care of my body this year. I’ll do my best with the goal of winning this tournament.”
Park Sang-hyun, the career leader in domestic prize money, will try to become the first player to surpass 6 billion won in domestic KPGA Tour earnings. Park has played 235 events and has earned 5,893,724,057 won, leaving him 106,275,943 won short of 6 billion won. He also won twice last year, setting a KPGA Tour record for multiple wins by a player in his 40s for the first time in 20 years.
Past winners including Moon Do-yeob, Bae Yong-jun, Park Seong-guk, Jeon Ga-ram, Choi Seung-bin and Kim Jae-ho are also in the field, setting up a competitive start to the 2026 season.
* This article has been translated by AI.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.