GOLFZON Foundation Successfully Concludes the 2024 Golf Festival for People with Disabilities

• A golf tournament held to promote social participation and improved fitness among people with disabilities, and ultimately to discover future golfers with disabilities
• Held over two days, Tuesday, May 28 and Wednesday, 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 the 30th that it had successfully held the ‘2024 Golf Festival for People with Disabilities’ from the 28th to the 29th at GOLFZON JOYMARU in Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, and at GOLFZON County Anseong H in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province. The event was co-hosted and co-organized with the Korea Disabled Golf Association, sponsored by GOLFZON and the Korea Paralympic Committee, and received financial support from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation, and the Lottery Commission.

The ‘Golf Festival for People with Disabilities’ is a golf tournament organized by the GOLFZON Foundation to promote social participation and improved fitness among people with disabilities, and ultimately to discover future golfers with disabilities. The screen golf tournament for people with disabilities has been held continuously since 2012, and the field golf tournament for people with disabilities since 2017.

In consideration of fairness, this tournament was divided into three divisions—△the Physical and Brain Lesion Division (GS1, GW/GS2/GS3, GS4) △the Visual Impairment Combined Division △the Intellectual Disability Combined Division—and conducted across five detailed events according to sports classification.

The screen golf tournament for people with disabilities, contested on GOLFZON’s screen golf simulators, was held on the 28th at the Champions Hall of GOLFZON JOYMARU. A total of 60 players who had passed the KDPGA (Korea Disabled Golf Association) GLF (Golfzon Live Festival) preliminaries—40 in the Physical and Brain Lesion Division, 10 in the Visual Impairment Combined Division, and 10 in the Intellectual Disability Combined Division—competed fiercely. As a result, Lee Geun-ho, Kim Il-gon, and Min Byeong-seop in the Physical and Brain Lesion Division, Lee Gyeong-hun in the Visual Impairment Combined Division, and Kim Seon-yeong in the Intellectual Disability Combined Division won their respective titles.

Kim Seon-yeong, the winner of the Intellectual Disability Combined Division, shared her thoughts on the award, saying, “Just passing the preliminaries was already very meaningful, so I am truly delighted to have won such a precious victory, and I will continue to develop my golf skills and communicate with others through screen golf,” adding, “I sincerely thank my family and the tournament officials who helped make it possible for me to participate.”

The field golf tournament for people with disabilities was held on the 29th at GOLFZON County Anseong H. In this tournament, 50 players recruited through recommendations from regional branches and related institutions among registered persons with disabilities participated, competing over 18 holes in the New Peoria format. As a result, Min Byeong-seop won the Combined Division title awarded to the player with the best score, while Hwang Taek-won, An Tae-seong, and Park Byeong-ho in the Physical and Brain Lesion Division, Park Yeong-hae in the Visual Impairment Combined Division, and Kim Seon-yeong in the Intellectual Disability Combined Division won their titles. In addition, various awards were presented, including the New Peoria championship to Lee Jae-guk and the Nearest award to Kim Dal-je.

Min Byeong-seop, the winner of the Combined Division, shared his thoughts on the award, saying, “I am happy to have achieved such a meaningful result from diligent practice,” adding, “Through this tournament I was able to build my confidence, and I will continue to practice so that I can keep participating in tournaments going forward.”

Trophies and certificates were presented to the winners in each division of the ‘2024 Golf Festival for People with Disabilities.’ After the competition, at the dinner held alongside the awards ceremony, all tournament participants and officials gathered together for a time of encouragement and fellowship, and souvenirs prepared by the organizers were provided to all participants.

Kim Young-chan, Chairman of the GOLFZON Foundation, said, “I was deeply moved to see the golfers with disabilities who participated in the tournament play with such joy and earnestness, and I send my heartfelt applause and encouragement to everyone,” adding, “We plan to continue holding the Golf Festival for People with Disabilities so that golfers with disabilities can experience joy and inspiration through golf.”