Seoul: Over eight decades after winning a Japanese tournament under his Japanese name during the country's colonial occupation of his native land, the late Korean-born golfer Yern Duk-choon had his birth name restored on the trophy Tuesday. In a ceremony held in Seoul, the Korea Professional Golfers' Association (KPGA) unveiled the trophy for the Japan Open Golf Championship that now bears Yern's Korean name as the 1941 champion.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Yern, the first professional golfer from Korea, won the tournament during the colonial period and competed as Tokuharu Nobuhara. The Japan Golf Association (JGA) recorded Yern's Japanese name in its official records. Last year, both the KPGA and the Korea Golf Association requested the JGA to change Yern's name and nationality on the Japan Open trophy and the JGA record books. The Japanese body agreed to this change in April this year.
The ceremony coincided with the 80th anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japan's colonial rule and the 60th anniversary of the normalization of Korea-Japan diplomatic ties. Hiroshi Yamanaka, chief operating officer of the JGA, stated that political circumstances forced Yern to compete under a Japanese name. After receiving requests from Korean golfing bodies, the JGA decided to correct his record and acknowledge the significance of the anniversary.
Yamanaka mentioned the possibility of nominating Yern for induction into the JGA Hall of Fame, as the door is now open to foreign nationals. He highlighted Yern's status as the last champion before World War II and his symbolic importance as a foreign-born champion.
KPGA CEO Kim Won-sup remarked that Yern, who passed away in 2004, symbolizes "the root of Korean golf." Correcting his record is seen as a historic accomplishment that enhances the legitimacy of Korean golf. Yern's Japan Open trophy was lost during the Korean War but has been restored by the KPGA and will be displayed at the Independence Hall of Korea.
Yern was born in Seoul in 1916 and began his golf journey by following a relative who worked as a caddie. He moved to Japan in 1934 for training and became a professional golfer. Yern won the first professional golf tournament in Korea, the 1958 KPGA Championship, and was a founding member of the KPGA in 1968. In his honor, the KPGA Tour awards the "Duk-choon Trophy" to the player with the lowest scoring average each season.