A rising star in Korean golf has made a sudden exit from PGA Tour qualifying – and he might be headed to LIV Golf instead.
Yubin Jang pulled out of the PGA Tour’s final qualifying stage on Tuesday morning, just days before the event was set to begin. The 22-year-old South Korean was expected to be one of the tournament’s top contenders, ranked No. 135 in the world.
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Sources say Jang is planning to join LIV Golf’s Iron Heads team, captained by Kevin Na.
His withdrawal leaves 170 players fighting for at least five coveted PGA Tour cards at this week’s event. There’s no replacing him – the tournament doesn’t use alternates at this stage.
Jang’s been absolutely crushing it on the Korean tour. He topped their money list this year, won twice, and finished second five different times. He also led the tour in both scoring and crushing drives off the tee.
He was supposed to tee off Thursday morning at TPC Sawgrass’ Dye’s Valley Course with Johnny Keefer and Japan’s Kensei Hirata. All three had dominated their respective tours – Jang in Korea, Keefer in PGA Tour Americas, and Hirata in Japan. Now Keefer and Hirata will play as a twosome for the first two rounds.
Interestingly, while the PGA Tour’s qualifying is happening in Florida, LIV Golf is running its own qualifying tournament in Saudi Arabia this week. They’re offering one spot in their Saudi-backed league to the winner.
Hirata remains the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 114 in the world, now that Jang has stepped away.
