DPRK Amateur Golf Open

The DPRK Golf Open is an annual amateur event which takes place outside Pyongyang, North Korea. It was launched in 2011 at the country's only open golf course.

The DPRK Amateur Golf Open
Tournament information
LocationNorth Korea
Established2011
Course(s)Pyongyang Golf Complex
Par72
Month playedJuly
Current champion
Lukasz Tomiewicz

The Open is a 36-hole tournament, with format varying each year.

History

North Korea currently has two golf courses, one of them the currently out-of-use course at Mount Kumgang and the other, the Pyongyang Golf Club situated 27 km from Pyongyang city.

The Pyongyang Golf Complex was designed and built in 1987 by a Japanese company. The course is mainly played by diplomatic staff.

In 2004, Koryo Tours hosted the Pyongyang Friendship Golf Tournament. It was a 9-hole event played by 8 competitors.[1]

In January 2011, North Korea announced that they would host the first-ever fully fledged 18-hole international affair. The first event took place over just one day in April 2011. The tournament was played in Callaway format. In 2012 the tournament took place over 3 days, with both Callaway and Stableford formats used.[2] The 2013 event took place from May 25 to 27 over 3 days in stroke play format.[3][4] The 2014 event took place from July 27 to 28 over 2 days in stroke play format.[5] The 2015 event took place on 6 and 7 September 2015 in stroke play format. Eleven different nations took part and the tournament was win by Claudio Consul who broke the course record.[6] The 2016 tournament took place between the 8th and 9th October 2016. Eighteen different nations took part. The overall winner was Poland's Lukasz Tomiewicz.[7]

Winners
YearWinnerCountryHandicap
2016Lukasz Tomiewicz Poland
2015Claudio Consul Germany+2
2014Nobuaki Kasahara Japan14
2013Peter Clark New Zealand22
2012Simon Jones England22
2011Olli Lehtonen Finland1.1

Records

The lowest gross score shot during the tournament is 70 by Claudio Consul in 2015. It has been claimed by a Pyongyang Golf Club professional that Kim Jong Il shot a course record of 34 sometime in the early 1990s, including 5 holes in one. This was stated to Eric Ellis, a reporter for the Australian Financial Review who visited the club in 1994,[8] and has yet to be confirmed by a credible source.[9]

Notes and references
  1. "2004 event". Golf Digest.
  2. "2012 tournament report". Time Magazine. June 6, 2012.
  3. "2013 tournament winner". New Zealand Herald. June 1, 2013.
  4. "North Korean Golf Open 2013". Jackson Fu. May 29, 2013.
  5. "2014 tournament winner". North Korean Open official website. August 5, 2014.
  6. "2015 tournament winner". North Korean Open official website. December 3, 2014.
  7. http://www.northkoreanopen.com/pastevents.html
  8. Ellis, Eric (22 October 2012). "Dear Leader and The Golf War". ericellis.com. Eric Ellis. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  9. Longman, Jeré (December 20, 2011). "Kim Jong Il golf record". NY Times.
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