The No. 1 ranked player in Korea has withdrawn from the PGA Tour’s qualifying school to sign with LIV Golf.

Yubin Jang, 22, was supposed to be in the field for Q School’s final stage that starts on Thursday, Dec. 12 at TPC Sawgrass’ Dye’s Valley Course and Sawgrass Country Club., earning his spot as the top earner on the Korea Professional Golf Association’s money list. Jang won twice and had five second-place finishes in the KPGA circuit while also leading the tour in scoring, grabbing Player of the Year honours in the process. He also scored the gold medal for Korea at the 2023 Asian Games.

At No. 135 in the Official World Golf Ranking, Jang was the second-highest ranked player in Q School behind Kensei Hirata, who captured the Order of Merit in Japan this year. But on Tuesday Jang dropped out of Q School, followed by LIV Golf announcing that Jang had joined Kevin Na’s Iron Heads team. There are no alternates for the final stage, meaning Jang’s exemption will not be filled. The field tops out at 170 players, with five PGA Tour cards on the line.

“As a promising young talent from Korea, I’ve been following his career for years and have had my eye on him to join the team,” Na said in a statement. “The Iron Heads needed young talent like his to push our veterans, and I’m confident he has what it takes to become a world-class golfer. Yubin’s presence shows young Korean golfers a clear path to competing globally against the best, and with an event in Korea this year, his addition is a major boost for our team.”

Along with Na and Jang, the Iron Heads have Danny Lee and Jinichiro Kozuma on its roster.

LIV Golf’s Promotions event, which is the Saudi-backed circuit’s version of Q School, runs this week at Riyadh Golf Club in Saudi Arabia. The Promotions has a lone exemption up for grabs for 93 individuals, and there is no guarantee the winner will be employed on a team, instead being slotted in one of LIV’s “wild card” positions.

Main image: Chung Sung-Jun

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