[Kang Hwi Ram writes a new chapter in golf history.]
[Super rookie Kang Hwi Ram causes a stir in the golf world,]
[Shocking score appears in the golf world.]
The content and even the expressions were all different. It felt like they were doing whatever they could to put out an eye-catching phrase to draw readers.
Either way, this was good. I wanted people to focus on me. Just looking at all of the news about me made me smile.
‘I guess I can consider the first round a win.’
The hole-in-one screen golf compet.i.tion was pretty large, however, it was not very popular. Even though there were a lot of compet.i.tions, it was rare to find any articles about it.
But there were still so many articles pouring out. It was even in the nation’s best portal sites and newspapers.
There were also a lot of pictures of me in the dandelion uniform.
Thanks to that, I was looking forward to the 2nd round today. If I can record a similar score to the first round, I might be able to gain as much popularity as some of the average ranking pros.
‘Today’s course is Master’s Island, right?’
I experienced it at the club meeting.
But that experience did not matter much since we competed on the front tee. The distance grows by at least 50 meters when you change to the back tee, so it will feel like a completely different course.
That was why I stayed up late last night practicing at Master’s Island. I put the conditions as the same ones we would face today.
My best score was 19 under par, and the worst score fell to 11 under par. It really was a difficult course.
If my driver distance was just 50 meters further, I could at least lower it by another 4 strokes.
But there was no need to be greedy. The reason I got the worst score was because I was being greedy. I tried to do something beyond my abilities and landed in the OB or hazard.
Which is what led me to my decision.
‘I will only compete within the limits of my skill.’
That was my goal for today.
I headed to the compet.i.tion area.
Of course, I was in the first squad and booth 1. I was playing together with Choi Sung Ook and s.h.i.+m Sang Chun, the second and third place from yesterday.
I should at least be able to get quite a bit of camera baptism today.
s.h.i.+m Sang Chun greeted me first.
“Nice to meet you. I am s.h.i.+m Sang Chun.”
“Kang Hwi Ram.”
“You had quite a magnificent score yesterday.”
“I was just lucky.”
I then shared a handshake with Choi Sung Ook.
But compared to the warm gaze s.h.i.+m Sang Chun gave me, Choi Sung Ook had a very compet.i.tive gaze. Even his handshake was very firm.
“My name is Choi Sung Ook. Let’s determine the true victor in our booth today.”
What is he saying? The compet.i.tion is pretty much over already. Even if Choi Sung Ook plays well, it is almost impossible to beat me.
Thanks to that, the focus of today was not who will get first place. It was focused on how many strokes I will win by.
It wasn’t just me. Everybody else was focused on that as well.
I just laughed it off.
“Haha, yes.”
The compet.i.tion soon started.
I was the owner after finis.h.i.+ng in first place yesterday.
431 meter par 4 hole.
A distance that was impossible for me to do a tee shot on-green.
I decided to cut like I practiced yesterday.
Next up was Choi Sung Ook who got second place yesterday.
But Choi Sung Ook looked toward me as he went up to the plate. It was a very compet.i.tive gaze.
He then immediately proceeded to turn the screen. The place he was aiming for was not a
fairway but the lake in the middle. He was attempting to pa.s.s the lake and go for a tee shot on-green.
‘Isn’t he crazy?’
Even if you look at a straight distance, it was close to 400 meters. With the wind blowing hard from the side, you would have to send it at least 370 meters because of the downward slope.
Is that really possible?
The gallery was thinking the same thing. They lowered their voices as much as they could for Choi Sung Ook, but everybody thought it was a rash decision.
But Choi Sung Ook had no hesitation. He immediately swung his driver hard, as if he had already made up his mind.
A shot so strong that his whole body twisted like a bow.
Clang- pangya!
The sound was good and the velocity was good as well. The sound was louder and more clear than when I hit my 300 meter shot.
My eyes opened up instantly. It was because the screen image had changed.
The gallery was cheering loudly.
“Wow! It looks like it’ll pa.s.s the lake!”
“He really is an amazing long distance hitter.”
“That player was the Asian Long Distance King right?”
“I heard he sent it 407 yards to make an Asian record.”
“Wow. Amazing.”
The ball easily crossed the lake and bounced once before landing onto the green. It was 10 meters away from the hole cup, but at least he succeeded in the on-green.
Choi Sung Ook clenched his fist in joy.
But then he looked toward me again. He proceeded to smirk after that. It felt like he was challenging me to try the same.
I think I understand what he is aiming for.
He was trying to provoke me. He was provoking me to go against him like a man and compete in a long distance match. He was probably trying to use that to make me make a mistake.
It was difficult to lower your strokes by 20 in one hole, but it was not difficult to gain 40 strokes in one hole.
‘Why do I need to do that?’
Today’s goal was not a pride battle with Choi Sung Ook. It was to get the lowest score possible to get the nation’s interest.
Do I look that stupid to him?
I lightly laughed.
Choi Sung Ook continued to focus on his long distance hits for the compet.i.tion.
But luck must be on his side today. He did not record a single OB or hazard until the 11th hole. I feel like his average distance today was at least 350 meters.
On the other hand, I just continued to rely on the safe shots. If it was less than 350 meters, I would have challenged it as well, but there were no holes like that so far.
Was that the reason? I could feel the gallery’s gaze more than usual today. They were looking at me with eyes of, ‘He’s different than yesterday,’ and, ‘Why is he being so careful.’ It almost felt like they were mocking me.
Then the 12th hole arrived.
I felt like it was a chance as soon as I checked the course.
359 meter par 4 hole. It swings widely to the right, so the actual distance was only about 320 meters.
And it was a light wind, but it was a back wind of 5.4 meters per hour right now.
With all of these conditions, it should fall right on the green if I use my 300 meter skill.
The problem was the pretty high hill blocking the way.
Choi Sung Ook did not care about anything again this hole. He turned the screen and immediately swung his driver as if to say this is how to do it.
But he couldn’t be lucky all the time. The distance was good, but the direction shook a bit and he ended up landing in the bunker next to the green.
Then it was my turn.
I calculated the wind and focused on getting the direction right. It was the first time I was aiming for a tee shot on-green in the second right.
I could hear the gallery quietly whispering in the back.
“Oh, finally!”
“I guess he is finally getting started.”
I started my address once I set the direction.
[Driver 300 skill: Intermediate level 6, 27%]
I swung my driver very hard.
Clang- pangya!
The ball refres.h.i.+ngly flew away. Of course the screen changed.
“Wow, the direction is perfect! It’s going to go in.”
“The ball is too fast!”
It really was a difficult course. The ball rolled quickly across the green. At its current speed, it will end up rolling about 10 meters past the cup.
I could tell the break was also pretty severe by looking at the green. Both the up/down and left/right slopes were pretty steep, so much so that a 10 meter eagle putt will be close to impossible.
However,
Clang!
“Wow! It hit the flag!”
“It stopped!”
The ball hit the flag in the hole cup. It didn’t go into the cup after that, but it only bounced back about 1 meter before stopping.
“Wow, if there was a concede, it would be an automatic eagle.”
“He is finally showing his skills!”
“”I guess the distance until now was too far. It’s best to be safe instead of going for impossible challenges.”
I was satisfied as well.
The result was, of course, an eagle. In comparison, Choi Sung Ook hit a bad bunker shot and settled for par, while s.h.i.+m Sang Chun managed another birdie this hole.
A similar situation repeated itself in the 13th hole.
Then the 14th hole, where I was the owner again.
It was a par 5 hole, but the distance was a whopping 530 meters.
But the problem wasn’t the distance, but the set-up of the course. It was the most difficult course on Master’s Island, and a course that only the most modest golfers can survive without failing.
It was because the fairway was made up of islands. It was made of three small gra.s.sy islands that looked like stepping stones to the green.
You will fail if you grab your driver in this hole.
That is the evaluation of your typical golfers. If you want to be safe, you will use your iron or wood.
But I grabbed my driver. There was a bit of a head wind, but I felt like I could aim for the second island 320 meters away.
“It’s such a rash decision.”
“No matter how good his driver skills are, this is impossible.”
“Shh, quiet.”
The murmurs of the gallery quieted down as soon as I finished setting the direction.
I had no worries. I used my driver 350 meter skill and swung as hard as I could.
Of course, the ball accurately fell where I was aiming for. My driver might not fly as far as Choi Sung Ook, but the accuracy was much higher.
It was such a narrow island that it made you feel like you were going to suffocate, but my skill’s error range was within the size of the island.
“Wow!”
“Amazing!”
The gallery was clapping for me and cheering.
Next up was Choi Sung Ook.
Choi Sung Ook bit his lips. He let out a small sigh after looking at the fairway made of islands.
I’m sure you have a lot to think about. Your plan until now will feel like a waste to safely cut across, but the success rate was too low to be greedy.
But he’ll have no other method. WIth the win already out of his reach, he’ll also lose his fame if he plays it safe now.
Choi Sung Ook altered the direction a bit before doing some practice swings.
Booooong- Boooooong-
The sound of the wind as his driver cut through was pretty strong. I feel like he would be able to send it at least 400 meters with that kind of swing.
He did his actual swing pretty similar to that. No, it was actually even stronger than the practice swing.
However,
Puk!
He must have put too much strength into it. The club head did not hit the ball accurately and ended up hitting the bottom of the ball.
The ball made a high arc like a howitzer. It then flew about 150 meters before landing into the lake with a plop!
“Aaah. He was doing so well……”
“That’s the problem with long distance hitters.”
The gallery was disappointed.
But would they be as disappointed as Choi Sung Ook himself? He lifted up his chin and swallowed his disappointment. Looking at the terrible frown on his face, the mental damage seemed to be pretty big.
Was that the reason? His shot continued to break after that. He aimed for a fairway 200 meters away with the 3 wood, but it ended up in the water again.
Continuous string of miss shots!
In the end, he recorded a 5 over par in this hole and lost all the points he had gained until now.
On the other hand, s.h.i.+m Sang Chun played like an Ice Man. He safely cut through and recorded the first part of this round.
It was the same after that.
Choi Sung Ook’s mental must have completely broken down as he could not even swing properly. The miss shots continued to come.
He gained 4 strokes in the remaining four holes to make his score plummet down the charge.
On the other hand, I recorded another eagle in the last 18th hole and finished the game with a total of 17 under par.
Combining the two days, it was exactly 40 under par.
s.h.i.+m Sang Chun recorded 16 under par today, for a two day total of 26 under par for second place.
Choi Sung Ook fell so far that he didn’t even matter. He had been doing well until the middle of the back 9, but he had fallen too far starting from the 14th hole.
But it wasn’t like anybody was paying attention him right now. All of the attention was currently on me.
“Wow! 17 under par at Master’s Island! His total for the 36 holes is 40 under par. Is this really possible?”
“Amazing. It definitely is not luck but skill to play this well.”
“Where did a player like that come from?”
The gallery’s cheering did not stop.
Of course, the interview was mine as well. Han Sul Yi came down to the booth to conduct the interview like yesterday.
“Congratulations. You didn’t show us many long distance shots today. Was there a special reason for that?”
A basic question. I just casually answered back.
“My driver is still limited to 350m right now.”
The continuing questions were the same. I just gave short answers while waiting for the question I wanted to come to arrive.
And then Han Sul Yi finally asked that question.
“You have won 20,000,000 won in prize money. Have you decided how to use it?”
“Of course. I have a special plan for it. That was the reason I partic.i.p.ated in this compet.i.tion in the first place.”
I put some strength into my answer as if I had been waiting for this.
I’m sure everybody felt the change in my tone.
Han Sul Yi was the same way. She quickly asked about it.
“What is that special plan?”
“There are students who have the talents but cannot let it blossom because of their family situation……”
I advertised the Dandelion Foundation as much as I could. Why it was created, what they were attempting to do, and how big their ambitions were.
“I plan on donating all of the prize money from today. That’s why I partic.i.p.ated in the compet.i.tion and tried so hard to win.”
“Now that you mention it, your uniform has dandelion patterns as well.”
“This clothes was also made by a high school student who dreams of becoming a designer. I asked her for a special outfit to advertise the Dandelion School. I plan on competing with Dandelion Uniforms for any other compet.i.tion as well.”
“I see. Your skills and character both seem to be very good. But do you have any plans on competing in field compet.i.tions?”
“Of course. If possible, I want to surpa.s.s Korea and even make it into the PGA.”
The interview continued on after that.
After that, they started to interview Choi Sung Ook and s.h.i.+m Sang Chun.
The next day.
The Lions Golf Club members gathered once more. We had a short gathering yesterday, but there were only a few people that we had round 2 with a lightning meeting.
Naturally, I was the focus of the meeting. Even the toasts were focused on the things I said yesterday in the interview.
“Here’s the Kang Hwi Ram pro’s entry into the PGA!”
“Cheers!”
I don’t know how much we’ve drank already. I only had half a shot each time, but I’m already feeling lightheaded.
Riiiiiing- Riiiiiiing-
It is my phone again. When I took a look, it was a cla.s.smate from high school.
It really was chaotic right now.
The impact of TV is really amazing. Yesterday’s screen golf compet.i.tion win was announced not just on portal site news, but also on national broadcasts as well.
Originally, it was not big enough of a compet.i.tion to be broadcast on the news, but it was because of my score.
23 under par after 18 holes and 40 under par after 36.
Thanks to that, they briefly mentioned it every time the news came on, even though there were no special segments for it.
My name was the number 1 in the search ranking on the portal site and did not seem to fall from there.
Thanks to that, everybody was trying to contact me.
“Yes, thank you. Let’s grab some food soon.”
One of the club members started to talk again once I got off the call. Even Director Han Sung Taek and Ji Sung Joon who were usually quiet were quite loud today because they were drunk.
“Amazing.”
“Our Kang pro did something big.”
“I recognized his talent from the beginning.”
“Hold on. You said Dandelion School right? Give me their account number. I will start donating 100,000 won a month starting today.”
“Me too. I can’t miss out on something like this.”
“Instead, why don’t we gather donations throughout the club. Since it is a place that is extremely transparent and even show their account information, I think we can donate without any concerns.”
“That’s good too.”
The majority of the members were either Presidents or high-ranked employees of companies. That was why it was pretty easy to do something they put their minds to doing.
It was the same right now. As soon as the conversation came up, all of them started to take out their phones and donate to the Dandelion Foundation.
Each time someone donated, the homepage verified the donation.
“Wow, it is verified almost instantly. There is no way they can embezzle money like this.”
“This is really a good method. All of the charities in our country should run like this.”
“Thank you Kang pro. You introduced a place like this to us.”
I really should be the thankful one. Thanks to them, I could already see my goal approaching quickly.
Looking at the account history, it was blowing up with donations. The donations from 10 minutes ago were already moved to page 2 that it was hard to find.
This was really the power of a broadcast. BIts and pieces of the interview were broadcasted, and people who watched it were looking up the Dandelion School on the internet.
So then, of course, they would have looked through the homepage.
The homepage had everything about the Dandelion School. Bios of the teachers, the stories of the students, and even the fact that donations were all transparently visible on the website.
That was why everybody was not worried as they donated.
I’m sure there were people who donated to see if the donations really were displayed on the website.
Regardless of the reason, a ton of people were donating to it.
But it was not like a huge amount was pouring in. The majority were between 5,000 and 10,000 won, and there were even some people who were sending 1,000 won.
But was the amount important?
I think the atmosphere is much more important.
I’m sure the people who are donating 1,000 won are your average blue collar workers. They could feel good about their donation while the donation can be used to help the students continued to develop their skills. If the students go on to successful careers, that feeling can multiply as well.
Then the tradition of donating will grow even more.
Isn’t that the cycle of virtue?
“Kang pro. Take a shot.”
But we really are drinking way too much today.
Clang- pangya!
The ball flew in a straight line. It was a good shot, going over 300 meters.
But Jung Man Yong was looking at the person and not the ball. To be specific, he was looking at the driver, iron, and wood swing form.
Next to Jung Man Yong were four experts. Three of them were golf experts while the last one was a computer expert.
All of them were watching the screen with eyes wide open.
“What do you think?”
Each of them made a remark at Jung Man Yong’s question.
“His swing is very clean. There is nothing to pick on.”
“The amazing thing is that each swing is the same. I feel like the swing will be exactly the same even if we overlap multiple shots of his.”
Jung Man Yong thought the same thing.
No, he wanted to verify if it really was the case.
“Make the computer overlap the videos.”
“Yes.”
The expert quickly tinkered with the computer.
The videos quickly overlapped each other into one. He then played all of them at the same thing.
Once they did that, something amazing happened.
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