5개월만에 KLPGA 투어 시작
First baseball, then football and now golf. The 42nd KLPGA Championship teed off on Thursday and became the first global golf tour to restart since the coronavirus outbreak. Our Sports editor, Paul Neat, is back in the studio again this week. Hi Paul, K-Sports are leading the way it seems...
Hi Connyoung, yes it does. It has been five months since we saw any golf action... since the season opener in Vietnam last December. The increased level of intrigue and popularity has meant that the tour is being broadcasted in several countries around the world, including Australia, New Zealand and Japan. In addition, SBS Golf are broadcasting the event on YouTube in English.
The tournament couldn't go ahead without the necessary safety measures being in place. As well as the usual temperature checks and health questionnaires, what other measures are being taken?
Players are required to practice social distancing and they are also required to sanitize their clubs. Players and caddies have a separate path and a separate, temporary clubhouse. There are also no galleries, or spectators, in attendance at the Lakewood Country Club in Yangju. .
Which players are involved and who should fans look out for?
Several of the sports top stars teed off on Thursday, including world number 3 Park Sung-hyun, world number 6 Kim Sei-young, and number 10 Lee Jeong-eun. In addition, defending champion, Choi Hye-jin, is also taking part. At just 20 years old she already has 9 KLPG wins to her name and seems confident. She said her "goal is to retain her title", and that she is "happy with her ball-striking" but it will be a case of "getting her feel back for the game".
After two days, what is the current state of play?
With two days to go, Bae Seon-woo is leading at 12 under par, followed by Kim Ja-young and Heo Da-bin both at 8 underpar.
Switching to K League now, the football season kicked off last Friday and, with his winning goal for Jeonbuk, Lee Dong-gook seems to have sparked the ' ', or 'Thanks to You' challenge, within Korean footbal, hasn't he?.
Yes, it does seem so. A K League legend with over 220 goals to his name, Lee Dong-gook scored the only goal of the match against for Jeonbuk against Suwon last Friday - a game which was viewed by millions around the world. To celebrate his late winner, Lee Dong-gook ran over to where the Jeonbuk fans would normally be, and displayed the 'thanks to you/ ' gesture.
The trend seemed to catch on as a handful of players over the course of the opening weekend followed suit such as Kim Seung-dae of Gangwon FC, Andre Luis of Daejeon Hana Citizen, and teams even lined up for their pre-match photographs whilst posing. Perhaps Dejan Damjanovic, your guest on News In Depth on Tuesday, will get of the mark for his new club when Daegu face Pohang this Saturday.
German Bundesliga restrats this weekend behind closed doors.
The decision was made on April 30th. Two months later, it's back...
