CV Stardom

Im Sung Jae (임성재), 22, of South Korea is among the Asian golfers the 2020 United States Open Championship. Including the Korean golfer, 144 players will compete in the 120th edition of the annual open national championship of golf in the U.S.

Born in Jeju Island, South Korea on March 30, 1998, Im has been playing golf professionally since 2015. He won The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic on January 16, 2018, the WinCo Foods Portland Open on August 19, 2018, the Genesis Championship on October 13, 2019 and The Honda Classic on March 1, 2020.

South Korea has yet to have a U.S. Open champion. The annual golf competition was established in 1895.

The 2020 U.S. Open will take place at the Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York, USA from September 17–20, 2020. The last time the tournament was held there was in 2006 when Geoff Ogilvy, 43, of Australia won with a score of 5 over par.

Including South Korea and the U.S., 27 countries from six continents are represented. The others are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile,  Colombia, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Norway, Scotland, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan and Thailand.

Due to the new coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the 144-player field consists entirely of exempt players. Professional golfers Daniel Chopra, 46, of Sweden and Anthony Kang, 47, of South Korea will co-host the golf tournament with former professional cricketer Jason de la Peña, 47, of England live on FOX Sports 2 from September 18-21, 2020.

Among the 144 players, a total of 67 golfers are from the U.S. There are four players from South Korea namely Im, An Byeong Hun, Kang Sung Hoon and Kim Si Woo.

The U.S. Open champions in the past five years were from the U.S. Jordan Spieth, 27, and Dustin “DJ” Johnson, 36, won in 2015 and 2016, respectively, Brooks Koepka, 30, won in 2017 and in 2018 and Gary Woodland, 36, won in 2019.