GOLFZON Foundation Hosts the 2025 Golf Festival for People with Disabilities

• A golf tournament held to encourage social participation and improve the physical fitness of people with disabilities, and ultimately to discover future disabled golf athletes
• Held over two days, Wednesday, May 28 and Thursday, May 29, as a screen golf tournament at GOLFZON JOYMARU and a field golf tournament at GOLFZON County Anseong H, respectively

The GOLFZON Foundation (Chairman Kim Young-chan) announced on May 30 that it had successfully concluded the ‘2025 Golf Festival for People with Disabilities,’ held over the two days of May 28 and 29.

To encourage social participation and improve the physical fitness of people with disabilities, and ultimately to discover future disabled golf athletes, the GOLFZON Foundation has continuously held the screen golf tournament for people with disabilities since 2012 and the field golf tournament for people with disabilities since 2017.

In consideration of the diversity and equity of participating athletes, the competition was organized into three divisions — △the physical and brain lesion disability division (GS1, GW/GS2/GS3, GS4), △the visual impairment division, and △the intellectual disability division — and was further divided into five detailed events according to sports classification.

The event schedule began with the screen golf tournament for people with disabilities at GOLFZON JOYMARU on May 28. In the screen tournament, a total of 60 athletes who had posted strong results in the qualifying rounds advanced to the finals to compete — 35 in the physical and brain lesion disability division, 10 in the visual impairment division, and 15 in the intellectual disability division.

After a heated competition, Lee Geun-ho, Lee Jeong-pyo, and Min Byeong-seop won by class in the physical and brain lesion disability division, Lee Kyung-hoon won the visual impairment division, and Kim Sun-young won the intellectual disability division.

Lee Geun-ho, a winner in the physical and brain lesion division, shared his thoughts: “The entire journey from the qualifiers to the finals was a meaningful and grateful time. I was able to build confidence through golf, and going forward I want to keep honing my skills to achieve even better records.”

The following day, May 29, the field golf tournament for people with disabilities took place at GOLFZON County Anseong H. The field tournament was held as a one-round, 18-hole stroke play, with 50 athletes recruited from among registered persons with disabilities through recommendations from city and provincial branches and related organizations. As a result of the competition, Kim Sun-young claimed the overall division title awarded to the athlete who records the best score, while Lee Geun-ho, Park Woo-sik, and Kang Dae-won won by class in the physical and brain lesion disability division, Park Young-hae won the visual impairment division, and Lee Ji-hong won the intellectual disability division.

Kim Sun-young, the overall division winner, said, “I am delighted that the time I spent practicing steadily led to such a valuable result. I am grateful to my family, who have always supported me by my side, and I will continue to practice diligently so that I can achieve even better results.”

Kim Young-chan, Chairman of the GOLFZON Foundation, said, “I applaud the golfers who demonstrated outstanding concentration and skill throughout the competition, and I drew great inspiration and courage from the sweat and passion of each athlete and their refusal to give up,” adding, “We will continue to create more opportunities and a better environment, striving to broaden the base of golf for people with disabilities and to inspire their passion and hope.”

Meanwhile, the Golf Festival for People with Disabilities was co-hosted and co-organized by the GOLFZON Foundation and the Korea Disabled Golf Association, sponsored by GOLFZON and the Korea Paralympic Committee, and conducted with financial support from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation, and the Lottery Commission.