Bae Sang-moon (; born 21 June 1986), or Sang-moon Bae, is a South Korean professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour.
Professional career Bae turned professional in 2004. He won the 2006 Emerson Pacific Group Open on the Korean Tour, and in 2007 he won the SK Telecom Open, an Asian Tour and Korean Tour co-sanctioned event held in his home country. In 2008, he won his home country's open, the Kolon-Hana Bank Korea Open. In 2009, he won the GS Caltex Maekyung Open.
In 2011, Bae finished as the leading money winner on the Japan Golf Tour for the season after winning three tournaments. Bae was the second consecutive Korean to take this accolade after Kim Kyung-tae's success in 2010. His three victories all came within two months of each other at the Vana H Cup KBC Augusta, the Coca-Cola Tokai Classic and the Japan Open. At the end of the year, he competed at the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, where he finished T11 to secure his playing rights for the 2012 PGA Tour season. He also reached his career high world ranking of 26th in 2011.
Bae started the season very strongly, making all of his first eight cuts on the PGA Tour. He recorded his first top-10 finish of the year when he reached the quarter-finals at the 2012 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, knocking out Ian Poulter and Charl Schwartzel before losing to Rory McIlroy. In March 2012, Bae lost in a four-man playoff at the Transitions Championship on the PGA Tour. After finishing at −13 for the tournament, he lost the playoff when Luke Donald holed a birdie putt on the first extra hole to defeat Bae, Jim Furyk and Robert Garrigus. He finished his debut season making 17 out of 25 cuts and ended up 71st in the FedEx Cup standings, one position outside of qualifying for the third playoff event.
In May 2013, Bae won his first PGA Tour event at the HP Byron Nelson Championship, beating Keegan Bradley by two strokes. Bae entered the final round a single stroke behind Bradley, but birdied four out of his first seven holes to move four ahead. However Bae double-bogeyed the ninth after finding water and bogeyed the 10th and 15th to drop back to a share of the lead. Bae then proceeded to birdie the 16th and when Bradley bogeyed the 17th, Bae had a comfortable two shot lead to come down the 18th and secure his maiden victory. He became just the fourth South Korean-born winner on the PGA Tour, after K. J. Choi, Yang Yong-eun, and Kevin Na.
Bae was embroiled in political controversy late 2014 after his work visa expired and he had yet to serve twenty-one months in the South Korean military as required of men age 18–35. By comparison, K. J. Choi and Yang Yong-eun completed their military requirements before turning professional. Bae countered that he had residency in the U.S. and was exempt. In July 2015, a South Korean court ruled Bae spent too much time in South Korea to be exempt and must fulfill his military requirement. In response, the PGA Tour created a "Mandatory Obligation" category that would allow Bae to retain his exemption after completing his service, similar to the major medical exemption.
Bae earned an invitation to the 2015 Presidents Cup as a captain's pick by Nick Price. It was his last event before military service, which began in November 2015. His military service ended in August 2017.
Bae made his return to professional golf at the 2017 Shinhan Donghae Open, an event he won twice as a member of the Korean Tour. His PGA Tour return came at the Safeway Open. Bae finished 202nd in the FedEx Cup, but earned entry to the Web.com Tour Finals via his military exemption. He won the Albertsons Boise Open and regained his PGA Tour card for the 2018–19 season.
Professional wins (15) PGA Tour wins (2) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin ofvictoryRunner-up119 May 2013HP Byron Nelson Championship66-66-66-69=267−132 strokes Keegan Bradley212 Oct 2014Frys.com Open66-69-65-73=273 −152 strokes Steven Bowditch
PGA Tour playoff record (0–1) No.YearTournamentOpponentsResult12012Transitions Championship Luke Donald, Jim Furyk, Robert GarrigusDonald won with birdie on first extra hole
Japan Golf Tour wins (3) Legend Flagship events (1) Japan majors (1) Other Japan Golf Tour (2) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin ofvictoryRunner(s)-up128 Aug 2011Vana H Cup KBC Augusta65-64-70-67=266−222 strokes Ryo Ishikawa, Tomohiro Kondo22 Oct 2011Coca-Cola Tokai Classic69-67-72-73=281−71 stroke Tadahiro Takayama316 Oct 2011Japan Open Golf Championship69-74-68-71=282−2Playoff Kenichi Kuboya
Japan Golf Tour playoff record (1–1) No.YearTournamentOpponentResult12011Japan Open Golf Championship Kenichi KuboyaWon with par on first extra hole22011Mynavi ABC Championship Koichiro KawanoLost to birdie on sixth extra hole
Asian Tour wins (3) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin ofvictoryRunner(s)-up127 May 2007SK Telecom Open164-69-71-67=271−176 strokes Aaron Baddeley, Kim Hyung-tae25 Oct 2008Kolon-Hana Bank Korea Open167-70-67-69=273−111 stroke Ian Poulter317 May 2009GS Caltex Maekyung Open171-70-70-70=281−7Playoff Ted Oh 1Co-sanctioned by the Korean Tour
Asian Tour playoff record (1–0) No.YearTournamentOpponentResult12009GS Caltex Maekyung Open Ted OhWon with par on second extra hole
Web.com Tour wins (1) Legend Finals events (1) Other Web.com Tour (0) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin ofvictoryRunners-up116 Sep 2018Albertsons Boise Open65-67-67-66=265−19 1 stroke Anders Albertson, Adam Schenk, Roger Sloan
OneAsia Tour wins (2) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin ofvictoryRunner-up113 Sep 2009Kolon-Hana Bank Korea Open171-71-65-67=271−101 stroke Kim Dae-sub223 May 2010SK Telecom Open168-65-66-67=266−223 strokes Kim Dae-hyun 1Co-sanctioned by the Korean Tour
Korean Tour wins (9) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin ofvictoryRunner(s)-up15 Nov 2006SBS Emerson Pacific Group Open70-66-70-69=275−136 strokes Kang Kyung-nam227 May 2007SK Telecom Open164-69-71-67=271−176 strokes Aaron Baddeley, Kim Hyung-tae323 Mar 2008KEB Invitational (1st)66-75-71-75=287−11 stroke Suk Jong-yul45 Oct 2008Kolon-Hana Bank Korea Open167-70-67-69=273−111 stroke Ian Poulter517 May 2009GS Caltex Maekyung Open171-70-70-70=281−7Playoff Ted Oh613 Sep 2009Kolon-Hana Bank Korea Open2 (2)71-71-65-67=271−101 stroke Kim Dae-sub723 May 2010SK Telecom Open268-65-66-67=266−223 strokes Kim Dae-hyun829 Sep 2013Shinhan Donghae Open72-66-68-63=279−93 strokes Ryu Hyun-woo99 Nov 2014Shinhan Donghae Open (2)69-67-68-71=275−135 strokes Kim Bong-sub, Moon Kyong-jun 1Co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour 2Co-sanctioned by the OneAsia Tour
Korean Tour playoff record (1–1) No.YearTournamentOpponent(s)Result12009GS Caltex Maekyung Open Ted OhWon with par on second extra hole22009SBS Johnnie Walker Blue Label Open Hwang Inn-choon, Kim Dae-sub, Maeng Dong-seopMaeng won with birdie on first extra hole
Other wins (1) 2008 Fortis International Challenge (Malaysia; with Kim Hyung-tae)
Results in major championships Tournament 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015Masters TournamentT37CUTT33U.S. OpenCUTT42CUTCUTThe Open ChampionshipCUTT64PGA ChampionshipT54CUT64
CUT = missed the half-way cut "T" = tied for place
Summary Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts madeMasters Tournament 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1The Open Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2Totals 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 6 Most consecutive cuts made – 2 (twice, current) Longest streak of top-10s – 0
Results in The Players Championship Tournament2012201320142015The Players ChampionshipCUTT3368T30 CUT = missed the halfway cut "T" indicates a tie for a place
Results in World Golf Championships Results not in chronological order before 2015. Tournament2012201320142015Championship71T46Match PlayQFInvitational66T53T63Champions
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play "T" = tied
Team appearances World Cup (representing South Korea): 2008, 2013 Royal Trophy (representing Asia): 2012 (winners) Presidents Cup (representing the International team): 2015
See also 2011 PGA Tour Qualifying School graduates 2018 Web.com Tour Finals graduates
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