'Rich Golfer' Lee Nam-yong, 'Two wins in Tongsan' at the opening match of the 2026 KPGA Champions Tour

*This content was translated by AI.

Lee Abuse (55) won his second championship in the opening round of the Champions Tour.

Lee Nam-yong won the 2026 Solago Senior Open (total prize money of 150 million won and winning prize money of 24 million won) at the Solago CC Lago Course (par 72, 6,849 yards) in Taean, Chungcheongnam-do, on the 9th and 10th.

On the first day of the competition, Lee Jae-yong tied for third place with one birdie and one bogey. Lee Yong-soo, who birdied the sixth hole (par 5) on the final day of the tournament, also added birdies in the eighth hole (par 3), the 12th hole (par 3), and the 13th hole (par 5), showing a stable play. Lee Abuse, who made a bogey on the 18th hole (par 4), the last hole, but reduced three shots on the day alone to finish with a 3-under 141 total, added a victory in three years on the KPGA Champions Tour.

Lee Nam-yong said, "All the players suffered because of the bad weather. "I focused on my play, thinking not to make mistakes, leading to the championship," he said. "Since yesterday, it has been windy and rainy, so there have been many players who are not in good shape after the first round. "I think running ten laps around the stadium of a nearby university every day to overcome stenosis helped me a lot in conditioning," he said.

"God and everyone who prays for me in the church have been a great help. On the same day, his son (KPGA pro Lee Joon-woo) also finished the KPGA Challenge Tour's '4th tournament'. I want to be a father who can be an example to my son, he said. "I thank Solago CC, the game committee, and the KPGA officials for helping the tournament go well with all the senior players I played with last time."

After joining the KPGA Pro (affiliated member) in November 1997 and the KPGA Tour Pro (full member) in August 1999, Lee entered the KPGA Tour in 2001 and stopped his tour career in 2005 due to back pain. The best record on the KPGA tour was tied for 16th at the 2003 "Yuseong Open Golf Tournament."

Since then, he has made his senior debut through the Champions Tour Q School, which he took in 2021, and has continued his Champions Tour activities to this day. The come-from-behind victory made at the "2nd Chammaru Construction Senior Open" in 2023 is also the first victory in 26 years since his professional debut.

Meanwhile, Lee Yong-ki (59) and Seok Jong-hyuk (54) tied for second with a final two-under 142 strokes, and Choi Gwi-hyung (54) finished fourth with a final one-under 143.

The KPGA Champions Tour, the "Forever Stage of Active Players," will continue its journey with the "KPGA Legend Classic Series 1," which will be held at Gumi CC in Gumi, Gyeongsangbuk-do, for two days from the 7th to the 8th of next month.

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*This content was translated by AI.