What a great story for the PGA Tour. Korean-American James Hahn just minutes ago won the Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club in Santa Monica, California. It is his first PGA Tour tournament win after competing in over sixty PGA Tour tournaments. He won with a birdie on the second hole in a three-man, sudden playoff with Paul Casey and budding superstar Dustin Johnson. Hahn was ranked 297th in the Sony World rankings. But the slender, handsome, six-foot, one inch Hahn looked like a cool, calm veteran in the playoff as he made his fifteen foot birdie putt to win and Dustin Johnson missed from just inside Hahn.
Why is it a great story? Hahn graduated from the elite school, the University of California at Berkeley and then turned pro in 2003. Without much success, he also worked for an advertising agency and even sold shoes for a time at a Nordstrom’s department store. He competed on the Korean Tour, Canadian Tour, Gateway Tour, Nationwide Tour, and finally made it to the regular PGA Tour in 2013.
Then James Hahn became known on the Internet for performing “Gangnam style” dancing in a You Tube music video that got an astounding 2 billion plus views. He’s going to get a lot of views now on the golf course. James Hahn has a really good golf swing that looks like it’s going to take him to more PGA Tour wins. He had to beat a bunch of star players coming down that difficult finishing stretch at the famed Riviera Country, which was long ago named “Hogan’s Alley” after the great Ben Hogan.
Hats off to James Hahn, and may he continue in his success on the PGA Tour.
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