The US Professional Golf (PGA) Tour Sentry Tournament of Champions, which opens on the 6th, is also a tournament where a feast of long hits is expected in addition to the symbolism of ‘New Year’s first tournament’ and ‘Wangjungwangjeon’. The Kapalua Resort Plantation Course (par 73), the venue for the tournament, is a “heaven for long hitters” with over 400 yards of long hits every year, and the record for the longest hit on this course is 498 yards.

Even if you are a long hitter, several conditions must be met to hit more than 400 yards. First of all, the fairway should be wide so that you can swing the club freely, and the hole should be downhill so that the ball can roll. If a tailwind blows here, the icing on the cake.

The Kapalua Resort Plantation course, which has all of these conditions, is considered the best course for long shots. In particular, the 18th hole (par 5), which is set around 660 yards during competitions, has a wide fairway and a steep downhill slope that the golf course introduces as “you can hit the longest drive shot in your life and feel like a pro.”

The record for the longest hit on this course was recorded at the 18th hole by Tiger Woods (USA), the “Emperor of Golf”. At the 18th hole of the 3rd round of the 2002 Mercedes Championship held here, Woods, then 26 years old, hit a driver shot, and the ball rolled downhill in the tailwind. He flew for 498 yards, just two yards short of 500 yards. This record, 18 years later, still stands as an unbroken long hit.

However, Woods’ record is not the official longest stroke on this course recognized by the PGA. Strictly speaking, it is an unofficial record because the PGA Tour introduced the shot link system that measures distance from 2003, the year after Woods shot 498 yards. The official record is 476 yards sent by Davis Love III (USA) in the same tournament in 2004. 안전놀이터

Woods’ 498 yards was not the longest shot in PGA Tour history, even including the unofficial record. It is 3rd on record, but the 1st and 2nd records are ‘lucky long hits’ that sent 515 yards and 787 yards after being hit by a cart path, so the true longest hit is Woods’ 498 yards.

As this tournament is a special event with a prize money of 2.7 million dollars (approximately 3.43 billion won), the competition between the players to win the title is something to see, but the pride battle between the long hitters is of interest.

Last season, Scott Stallings (USA), John Rahm (Spain), Cameron Young (USA), and Justin Thomas (USA), who flew 460 yards at the WM Phoenix Open, participated in a large number of long hitters representing the tour, surpassing Woods’ 498 yards and reaching 500 yards. The yardage record is also worth looking forward to.