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Bae and Kim bid for Korean World Cup berth

The Korean combination of Bae Sang-moon and Kim Hyung-tae will aim to show the strength in depth of golf in their country with a top-three finish at the Fortis International Challenge next week.

Bae and Kim will team up for the first time at Kota Permai Golf and Country Club from September 18 to 21 in their bid to qualify for the Omega Mission Hills World Cup in China later in November.

A total of 19 two-man teams, including Malaysia's Danny Chia and Iain Steel, will tee up at the Fortis International Challenge where the top three nations will earn tickets to China.

At 22, Bae is one of Korea's rising stars after he claimed an impressive maiden title on the Asian Tour at the SK Telecom Open on home soil last season. He has subsequently ventured out to Asia on a regular basis this season, finishing in the top-10 on two occasions and currently lies in 22nd place on the Asian Tour's Order of Merit.

Kim, who is eight years older than his partner, plies his trade mainly on the domestic Tour and featured in Japan for several seasons to earn the tag as one of the most consistent performers from Korea.

They will be hoping to emulate last year's combination of Lee Sung and Lee Seung-ho, who were successful at Kota Permai where they finished fourth and qualified for the World Cup.

Bae is looking forward to representing Korea alongside Kim as they hope to continue to reinforce the growing standard of play amongst the Korean men golfers.

"Golf in Korea is growing and I am really excited to compete in Asia. There are many good players from Korea and we try to encourage one another to succeed," said Bae.

The teams will play fourball better ball in the first and third rounds and foursomes (alternate shot) in the second and final rounds, which is the same format as the World Cup in China from November 27 to 30.

THE TEAMS

Bangladesh (Md Siddiqur Rahman, Md Jibon Ali)
Brunei (Pengiran Hassanal, Faiz Damit)
Ghana (Emos Korblah, Victor Brave Mensah)
Kenya (Dismas Indiza, Ajay Anil Shah)
Korea (Bae Sang-moon, Kim Hyung-tae)
Mauritius (Billy Narraina, Vishnoo Seeneevassen)
Nigeria (Oyebanji Gboyega, Odoh Andrew Oche)
Singapore (Mardan Mamat, Lam Chih Bing)
Sri Lanka (Anura Rohana, Lalith Kumara)
Pakistan (Muhammad Shabbir, Muhammad Munir)
Myanmar (Soe Kyaw Naing, Zaw Zaw Latt)
Hong Kong (Derek Fung, David Freeman)
Nepal (Deepak Thapa Magar, Deepak Neupane)
Italy (Francesco Molinari, Edoardo Molinari)
Indonesia (Junaedi Ibrahim, Sarmilih)
Malaysia (Iain Steel, Danny Chia)
Philippines (Angelo Que, Marciano Pucay)
Uganda (Deo Akope, Godfrey Mande)
Swaziland (Robbie Wesselo, Meshak Zwane)

September 13, 2008