Ok Tae-hoon is tied for fourth place after the first round of the 39th Shinhan Donghae Open (Total prize money: KRW 1.4 billion).Ok is tied for fourth place at 5:50 p.m. after seven birdies and one bogey in the first round of the tournament at the Incheon Club 72 (par-72, 7,204 yards).Ok, who began play on the 10th hole (par-4), carded seven birdies after a bogey on the 12th (par-3) to finish the first day atop the leaderboard.Ok is yet to win on the Korean Professional Golf Association (KPGA) Korean Tour, but he did win the Asian Tour International Series Korea ($1.5 million) on Jeju Island last August.This year’s Shinhan Donghae Open is co-hosted by the KPGA Korean Tour, Japan Professional Golf Tour (JGTO) and Asian Tour.David Puig (Spain) is alone atop the leaderboard after carding eight birdies.The 2001-born Spaniard turned professional in September last year and immediately made his debut on the Saudi Capital-backed LIV Golf.Ok, who finished two strokes behind Puig, said in a post-match interview, “It was mainly due to the amount of putt practice I did before the tournament.” He added, “I’m actually not in the best shape this week, but I’ll try to focus as this is a tournament that everyone wants to win.”Behind Puig, Anthony Quayle (AUS) and Pachara Kongwatmai (THA) are tied for second at seven-under-par 65, one shot behind the leader.In a battle of the leading long hitters from Korea and Japan, Riki Kawamoto (JPN) was the better performer.Kawamoto, who is averaging 325.1 yards on the JGTO this season, shot a five-under-par 67 to tie for seventh, while Chung, who is averaging 324.6 yards on the KPGA Korean Tour, shot a one-over-par 73 to slip out of the top 100.Last year’s winner Kazuki Higa (JPN) was absent due to a DP World Tour event, while 2021 winner Yoseop Seo (KOR) slipped to an eight-over-par 80 and a share of 136th place in the 138-player field.Korean-American Seung-Soo Han (USA), who will become the first player in KPGA Korean Tour history to surpass $800 million in season earnings if he wins or finishes second in this event, is tied for 10th at four-under-par 68.Kim Sung-hyun, who plays on the U.S. Professional Golf (PGA) Tour, is tied for 90th with an even-par 72, while Lee Jae-kyung, the KPGA Korean Tour Order of Merit leader, is just outside the top 100 at 1-over par 73.Kim Bi-Oh, winner of last week’s KPGA Korean Tour LX Championship, is tied for 10th at 4-under 68 and will be looking to win for the second week in a row.Featured player Chan-ho Park, the ‘Korean Express’, shot a 15-over-par 87 to finish in a tie for 138th place.Park, who holds the record for most wins by an Asian player in Major League Baseball (124), also competed in the Woori Financial Championship and SK Telecom Open last year, both of which he missed the cut.He made a birdie on the seventh (par-5), but only carded a nine on the 15th (par-4), showing the high barriers of the profession.In the Charity Challenge held on the 6th, the day before the opening, Park Chan-ho, who teamed up with Kim Sung-hyun to raise the most donations of 9 million won, said in an interview after the Charity Challenge, “The rough is difficult in professional competitions, and the greens are fast, so there are many things to adapt to.” “Feeling the difficulty of golf gives me the 스포츠토토 determination to work harder,” he said.