Seungsu

Han

The UNLV alum made waves in 2018 with a run of form that included back-to-back top 15s in European Tour events followed by a T5 at the Corales. The lack of a global point system left him in search of more status. Heading back to the Japan Golf Tour he is currently 23rd on the tour’s money list but found his way into this event with a runner-up finish at the Bridgestone Open. Including that finish, he arrives with top 10s in three of his last six worldwide starts. His comfort playing on the Japan circuit combined with some past success on the PGA TOUR and European Tour could make him an appealing dark horse in DFS formats.

The international player and former UNLV golfer certainly enjoyed his time in the Dominican Republic last season, as he turned in a solid fifth-place showing. Han burned up the course with a pair of 5-under 67s in the first two rounds before managed a 1-over 143 in his final two rounds. Wind can be attributed to his late-round struggles at Corales last year, but the winds should be more cooperative this weekend. He will be looking to atone for a missed cut in the Magical Kenya Open on the European Tour last time out.

The UNLV alum pelted 16 greens in each of the first two rounds this week. The winds picked up today and his ball-striking took a hit as a result. Today, he landed just nine greens in regulation which put him in scrambling mode instead of scoring mode. The biggest blemish came at the par-5 seventh when he found trouble and ended up carding a double-bogey 7. On the bright side, this round did beat the field average by 0.05 strokes, evidence of how tough the scoring conditions were today compared to R1 and R2. Starting the finale six shots off the pace set by Brice Garnett, Han will need a monster Sunday if he wants a chance to win. As a consolation prize, a top 10 would earn him a spot into next week’s Houston Open.

The American’s success on the Japanese Tour last year has him ranked No. 88 in the world and this result means he is 3-for-3 on the European Tour for 2018, but this is comfortably his best performance and for a brief period on the back nine he looked a title contender. He ticked 5 and 6 on the front nine, then 10, 12 and 13 on the back, but he was always requiring the leaders to falter and they didn’t. In fact he was the one to drop a shot, at the 17th. A funny week in his relationship with the course. He was 10-under on the first seven holes (no bogeys), but 1-over for 8 and 9 (no par breakers). A similar pattern emerged on the back nine: Good from 10 through 13 (7-under, no dropped shots), but limping home (5-over for 14 to 18 with no birdies).

Playing in his third career PGA TOUR event, and first since 2010, the UNLV alum racked up 20 birdies to camouflage seven bogeys and a double bogey. Battling blustery conditions today, Han stayed calm off the tee and split 12 (of 14) fairways. From there, he found just nine greens but managed to keep himself inside the top 10 with this closing 71. That means Han, who also goes by Steve, earned his way into the field at next week’s Houston Open via the top-10 exemption. With 12 worldwide top 10s since the start of 2017, the late-blooming, 31-year-old is certainly someone to keep an eye on moving forward.

The 31-year-old who also goes by ‘Steve’ entered the week as the third-highest ranked golfers in the field. He currently sits at 85th in the Official World Golf Rankings thanks to a late-blooming surge on the Japan Golf Tour. During 2017 he posted seven podium finishes on his home circuit which was a bit out of left field since he’d previously found zero podiums in 78 career worldwide starts. Riding that wave of momentum in his third career PGA TOUR start, Han has pelted 32 greens in regulation so far (fourth in the field currently). If he maintains this level of ball-striking then we should still see his name toward the top of this leaderboard come Sunday afternoon.

The former UNLV golfer is making his fifth career PGA TOUR start with a best of T5 at this year’s Corales. He’s won one time in 117 worldwide events, the 2017 Casio World Open on the Japan Golf Tour. The 31-year-old has made 15 starts in calendar-year 2018 on various tours, most recently a missed cut at the Open de France on the European Tour five weeks ago, and has recorded five top 10s. His best this year is a T4 at the Oman Open (Euro Tour) back in mid-February.