Bae Sang-moon (Korean: 배상문; born 21 June 1986), or Sang-moon Bae, is a South Korean professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour.

Bae Sang-moon
Personal information
Born (1986-06-21) 21 June 1986 (age 38)
Daegu, South Korea
Height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[1]
Weight180 lb (82 kg; 13 st)[1]
Sporting nationality South Korea
ResidenceKyunggi-do, South Korea
Career
CollegeDaegu University
Turned professional2004
Current tour(s)PGA Tour
(past champion status)
Korn Ferry Tour
Former tour(s)Japan Golf Tour
Asian Tour
Professional wins16
Highest ranking26 (20 November 2011)[2]
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour2
Japan Golf Tour3
Asian Tour3
Korn Ferry Tour1
Other7
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT33: 2015
PGA ChampionshipT54: 2012
U.S. OpenT42: 2011
The Open ChampionshipT64: 2012
Achievements and awards
Korean Tour
Order of Merit winner
2009
Korean Tour
Player of the Year
2009
Japan Golf Tour
money list winner
2011
Japan Golf Tour
Most Valuable Player
2011

Professional career

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Bae turned professional in 2004. He won the 2006 Emerson Pacific Group Open on the Korean Tour, and in 2007 he won the SK Telecom Open, an Asian Tour and Korean Tour co-sanctioned event held in his home country. In 2008, he won his home country's open, the Kolon-Hana Bank Korea Open. In 2009, he won the GS Caltex Maekyung Open.

In 2011, Bae finished as the leading money winner on the Japan Golf Tour for the season after winning three tournaments. Bae was the second consecutive Korean to take this accolade after Kim Kyung-tae's success in 2010. His three victories all came within two months of each other at the Vana H Cup KBC Augusta, the Coca-Cola Tokai Classic and the Japan Open. At the end of the year, he competed at the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, where he finished T11 to secure his playing rights for the 2012 PGA Tour season. He also reached his career high world ranking of 26th in 2011.

Bae started the season very strongly, making all of his first eight cuts on the PGA Tour. He recorded his first top-10 finish of the year when he reached the quarter-finals at the 2012 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, knocking out Ian Poulter and Charl Schwartzel before losing to Rory McIlroy. In March 2012, Bae lost in a four-man playoff at the Transitions Championship on the PGA Tour. After finishing at −13 for the tournament, he lost the playoff when Luke Donald holed a birdie putt on the first extra hole to defeat Bae, Jim Furyk and Robert Garrigus. He finished his debut season making 17 out of 25 cuts and ended up 71st in the FedEx Cup standings, one position outside of qualifying for the third playoff event.

In May 2013, Bae won his first PGA Tour event at the HP Byron Nelson Championship, beating Keegan Bradley by two strokes.[3] Bae entered the final round a single stroke behind Bradley, but birdied four out of his first seven holes to move four ahead. However Bae double-bogeyed the ninth after finding water and bogeyed the 10th and 15th to drop back to a share of the lead. Bae then proceeded to birdie the 16th and when Bradley bogeyed the 17th, Bae had a comfortable two shot lead to come down the 18th and secure his maiden victory.[4][5] He became just the fourth South Korean-born winner on the PGA Tour, after K. J. Choi, Yang Yong-eun, and Kevin Na.

Bae was embroiled in political controversy late 2014 after his work visa expired and he had yet to serve twenty-one months in the South Korean military as required of men age 18–35. By comparison, K. J. Choi and Yang Yong-eun completed their military requirements before turning professional. Bae countered that he had residency in the U.S. and was exempt. In July 2015, a South Korean court ruled Bae spent too much time in South Korea to be exempt and must fulfill his military requirement.[6] In response, the PGA Tour created a "Mandatory Obligation" category that would allow Bae to retain his exemption after completing his service, similar to the major medical exemption.

 
Bae Sang-moon at the 2015 Masters Tournament.

Bae earned an invitation to the 2015 Presidents Cup as a captain's pick by Nick Price. It was his last event before military service, which began in November 2015. His military service ended in August 2017.

Bae made his return to professional golf at the 2017 Shinhan Donghae Open, an event he won twice as a member of the Korean Tour. His PGA Tour return came at the Safeway Open. Bae finished 202nd in the FedEx Cup, but earned entry to the Web.com Tour Finals via his military exemption. He won the Albertsons Boise Open and regained his PGA Tour card for the 2018–19 season.

Professional wins (15)

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PGA Tour wins (2)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory
Runner-up
1 19 May 2013 HP Byron Nelson Championship 66-66-66-69=267 −13 2 strokes   Keegan Bradley
2 12 Oct 2014 Frys.com Open 66-69-65-73=273 −15 2 strokes   Steven Bowditch

PGA Tour playoff record (0–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponents Result
1 2012 Transitions Championship   Luke Donald,   Jim Furyk,
  Robert Garrigus
Donald won with birdie on first extra hole

Japan Golf Tour wins (3)

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Legend
Flagship events (1)
Japan majors (1)[a]
Other Japan Golf Tour (2)
No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 28 Aug 2011 Vana H Cup KBC Augusta 65-64-70-67=266 −22 2 strokes   Ryo Ishikawa,   Tomohiro Kondo
2 2 Oct 2011 Coca-Cola Tokai Classic 69-67-72-73=281 −7 1 stroke   Tadahiro Takayama
3 16 Oct 2011 Japan Open Golf Championship 69-74-68-71=282 −2 Playoff   Kenichi Kuboya

Japan Golf Tour playoff record (1–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2011 Japan Open Golf Championship   Kenichi Kuboya Won with par on first extra hole
2 2011 Mynavi ABC Championship   Koichiro Kawano Lost to birdie on sixth extra hole

Asian Tour wins (3)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 27 May 2007 SK Telecom Open1 64-69-71-67=271 −17 6 strokes   Aaron Baddeley,   Kim Hyung-tae
2 5 Oct 2008 Kolon-Hana Bank Korea Open1 67-70-67-69=273 −11 1 stroke   Ian Poulter
3 17 May 2009 GS Caltex Maekyung Open1 71-70-70-70=281 −7 Playoff   Ted Oh

1Co-sanctioned by the Korean Tour

Asian Tour playoff record (1–0)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2009 GS Caltex Maekyung Open   Ted Oh Won with par on second extra hole

Web.com Tour wins (1)

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Legend
Finals events (1)
Other Web.com Tour (0)
No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory
Runners-up
1 16 Sep 2018 Albertsons Boise Open 65-67-67-66=265 −19 1 stroke   Anders Albertson,   Adam Schenk,
  Roger Sloan

OneAsia Tour wins (2)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory
Runner-up
1 13 Sep 2009 Kolon-Hana Bank Korea Open1 71-71-65-67=271 −10 1 stroke   Kim Dae-sub
2 23 May 2010 SK Telecom Open1 68-65-66-67=266 −22 3 strokes   Kim Dae-hyun

1Co-sanctioned by the Korean Tour

Korean Tour wins (9)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 5 Nov 2006 SBS Emerson Pacific Group Open 70-66-70-69=275 −13 6 strokes   Kang Kyung-nam
2 27 May 2007 SK Telecom Open1 64-69-71-67=271 −17 6 strokes   Aaron Baddeley,   Kim Hyung-tae
3 23 Mar 2008 KEB Invitational (1st) 66-75-71-75=287 −1 1 stroke   Suk Jong-yul
4 5 Oct 2008 Kolon-Hana Bank Korea Open1 67-70-67-69=273 −11 1 stroke   Ian Poulter
5 17 May 2009 GS Caltex Maekyung Open1 71-70-70-70=281 −7 Playoff   Ted Oh
6 13 Sep 2009 Kolon-Hana Bank Korea Open2 (2) 71-71-65-67=271 −10 1 stroke   Kim Dae-sub
7 23 May 2010 SK Telecom Open2 68-65-66-67=266 −22 3 strokes   Kim Dae-hyun
8 29 Sep 2013 Shinhan Donghae Open 72-66-68-63=279 −9 3 strokes   Ryu Hyun-woo
9 9 Nov 2014 Shinhan Donghae Open (2) 69-67-68-71=275 −13 5 strokes   Kim Bong-sub,   Moon Kyong-jun

1Co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour
2Co-sanctioned by the OneAsia Tour

Korean Tour playoff record (1–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 2009 GS Caltex Maekyung Open   Ted Oh Won with par on second extra hole
2 2009 SBS Johnnie Walker Blue Label Open   Hwang Inn-choon,   Kim Dae-sub,
  Maeng Dong-seop
Maeng won with birdie on first extra hole

Other wins (1)

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  • 2008 Fortis International Challenge (Malaysia; with Kim Hyung-tae)

Results in major championships

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Tournament 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Masters Tournament T37 CUT T33
U.S. Open CUT T42 CUT CUT
The Open Championship CUT T64
PGA Championship T54 CUT 64
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied for place

Summary

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Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2
U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1
The Open Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1
PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2
Totals 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 6
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 2 (twice, current)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 0

Results in The Players Championship

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Tournament 2012 2013 2014 2015
The Players Championship CUT T33 68 T30

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

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Results not in chronological order before 2015.

Tournament 2012 2013 2014 2015
Championship 71 T46
Match Play QF
Invitational 66 T53 T63
Champions
  Top 10
  Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied

Team appearances

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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ The 2011 Japan Open Golf Championship was also a Japan major championship.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Sang-Moon Bae profile". PGA Tour. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  2. ^ "Week 47 2011 Ending 20 Nov 2011" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  3. ^ Casey, Phil (20 May 2013). "Bae Sang-moon holds off Bradley to claim Byron Nelson title". Irish Independent. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
  4. ^ "Sang-Moon Bae's 1st PGA win comes at Byron Nelson". CBC Sports. Associated Press. 20 May 2001. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
  5. ^ Hawkins, Stephen (20 May 2013). "Sang-Moon wins the HP Byron Nelson Championship". PGA of America. Associated Press. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
  6. ^ Jung, Min-ho (22 July 2015). "No exception for PGA star". The Korea Times. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
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