Korean name for late golfer restored on trophy for Japan tournament

Korea Professional Golfers' Association CEO Kim Won-sup, left, and Japan Golf Association Chief Operating Officer Hiroshi Yamanaka flank the restored Japan Open Golf Championship trophy during a ceremony in Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap

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.

Yern, the first professional golfer from Korea, won the prestigious tournament during the colonial period and competed as Tokuharu Nobuhara. The Japan Golf Association (JGA) put Yern's Japanese name into its record books, too.

Last year, both the KPGA, which runs the domestic pro tour, and the Korea Golf Association, the sport's national governing body, asked the JGA to change Yern's name and nationality in the Japan Open trophy and the JGA record books. The Japanese body agreed to do so in April this year.

The ceremony was held three days before the 80th anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule. This year also marks the 60th anniversary of the normalization of the Korea-Japan diplomatic ties.

"Due to political circumstances, Yern Duk-choon was not able to use his Korean name and had to play under his Japanese name," said Hiroshi Yamanaka, chief operating officer of the JGA. "After receiving requests from the KPGA and the KGA last year, we at the JGA had some discussions and unanimously decided to correct his record. This is a meaningful year celebrating the 60th anniversary of our diplomatic normalization. I hope Yern will be happy in heaven."

Yamanaka added that Yern will likely be nominated for induction into the JGA Hall of Fame, saying the door is now open to foreign nationals starting this year.

"He was the last champion before World War II and drew particular attention as the foreign-born champion," Yamanaka said. "He is a symbolic figure and there's a strong possibility he will be nominated for induction."

KPGA CEO Kim Won-sup said Yern, who died in 2004, represents "the root of Korean golf."

"Changing his record transcends the individual player. It is a historic accomplishment that gives Korean golf legitimacy," Kim added.

Yern's Japan Open trophy had been lost during the 1950-53 Korean War but the KPGA has since restored it and will put it on display at the Independence Hall of Korea in Cheonan, some 90 kilometers south of Seoul.

Born in Seoul in 1916, Yern picked up golf after following around a relative who was working as a caddie at Kyungsung Golf Club, Korea's first golf course.

Yern left for Japan in 1934 for further training and became a professional there.

Yern won the very first professional golf tournament in Korean, the 1958 KPGA Championship. He was a founding member of the KPGA in 1968.

In Yern's honor, the KPGA Tour presents the "Duk-choon Trophy" to the player with the lowest scoring average each season.