Genesis Championship 2024 FRL Tips: Five to watch in Korea

The Genesis Championship begins at TPC Summerlin in Korea on Thursday and in addition to his outright tips, our resident Golf expert Jamie Worsley has taken a look at the First Round Leader market.

Read on for his Genesis Championship 2024 FRL tips.

The Genesis Championship starts in the early hours in Incheon, South Korea and with plenty on the line in our final regular event of the season, many players will be desperate to make a positive start at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea.

The wind is forecast to be fairly even throughout the day, perhaps a little breezier in the afternoon but not enough to overly impact play. That being said, it’s with these later starters that I think the advantage lies.

Temperatures are predicted to be rather chilly early doors, with the morning starters teeing off when the reading is between 7-9C. By the time those in the afternoon begin their rounds, the temperatures will have risen to 15C and will hit 20+ later in the day.

The ball travels further the warmer it gets, and no golfer likes to play in cold conditions. Therefore, it’s with the afternoon tee times I’ll focus my attention in the first-round leader market this week.

0.75 pts Tom Vaillant each-way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 55/1

Start time: 12:20

First up is French rookie, Tom Vaillant. He’s enjoyed a solid and consistent first season on the DP World Tour, but he needs one final push to make it into the season-ending playoffs. As a player in good first-round form and looking strong in most areas of his game, he can give himself the best possible chance of achieving the required finish by starting well tomorrow.

He has only missed one of his last seven cuts and just three starts ago in the Dunhill Links he equalled his best finish of the season, of 7^th. His all-round play has been good, ranking 9^th in this field in strokes-gained total over the last six months and he is especially strong off-the-tee, ranking 11^th in that same time period.

Vaillant ranks 6^th in round one scoring and he has sat inside the top 6 after round one in two of his last seven starts. He fired a 3-under 69 to finish day one in 5^th place in the British Masters, and then opened with an excellent 8-under 64 at St Andrews to occupy 6^th spot through 18 holes in the Dunhill Links.

0.75 pts Scott Jamieson each-way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 60/1

Start time: 12:10

Scott Jamieson is another player who has his place on tour for next season locked up, but sitting at 85^th on the Race to Dubai, he needs a good performance to make it to the playoffs. He’s also got some promising recent round one displays under his belt and returning to a course at which he finished 3^rd last year, he can start fast in Korea.

A 3^rd-place finish in Qatar earlier in the year represents the Scot’s best finish of 2024. He’s failed to find consistency since, largely due to struggles with his iron play but he’d arrested that somewhat over recent starts, before a disappointing weekend in Andalucia. The rest of his game has been solid, and he’s particularly excelled on the greens, ranking 8^th in the last three months.

Jamieson has opened with an under par round in each of his last three starts. A 63 at Kingsbarns in the Dunhill Links three starts ago saw him into 3^rd place on day one, whilst a 4-under 68 had him finish the first round in 12^th position last week. His second-round 65 here was the third-best round of the week last year and shows he has the ability to go low at the course.

0.75 pts Junghwan Lee each-way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 70/1

Start time: 11:40

I’m now going to take a chance on three home players, starting with Junghwan Lee. He’s been enjoying a good year on the KPGA and with a good record at this venue, he has the experience to go low tomorrow.

Lee has played 18 times this season and missed just three cuts, racking up eight top 10s across starts on the KPGA and Asian Tour. He also performed well amongst an elite field of players in the Scottish Open, finishing 46^th.

He finished 2^nd in this event on the KPGA in 2018 and again showed his affinity for the course last year, finishing 10^th in the Korea Championship on the DPWT and then 12^th in the KPGA event towards the end of the year.

Combine this with his strong start in the Golfzon-Toray OPEN four starts ago, where he fired a 64 in the first round to finish the day in 3^rd, and Lee makes a lot of sense in this market.

0.5 pts Hanbyeol Kim each-way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 80/1

Start time: 12:10

Hanbyeol Kim has finished inside the top 10 in each of the last three editions of the Genesis Championship on the KPGA. With a string of positive starts to his name over recent weeks, he has plenty in his favour to begin well tomorrow.

Kim has missed only one cut in 17 starts in Korea this year, and he comes into this week after recording seven top-25 finishes in his last 11 events.

He failed to strike a blow on his first two starts at this course but has been excellent in the last three years, recording consecutive finishes of 8^th, 8^th and 5^th. Whilst he also made the cut on the DPWT in the Korea Championship here last year, finishing 52^nd.

Kim has opened with rounds of 67, 68, 69, 69, 67, 68, 66 in seven of his last eight starts and he can take advantage of his later tee time to find another low one on Thursday.

0.5 pts Jeongwoo Ham each-way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 90/1

Start time: 12:40

Jeongwoo Ham is a six-time winner worldwide, recording the latest of those successes just four starts ago on the KPGA. In possession of some good form here and starting well of late, he looks a lively player in the first-round leader market.

Ham struggled for form at the start of the year, as he mixed his time between the Korn Ferry Tour and Asian Tour. He’s been considerably better since returning to the KPGA, recording four top 10s in his last 10 starts, including that win in the Golfzon-Toray OPEN.

He has never missed a cut here on the KPGA and has twice made it inside the top 5, finishing 4^th in 2021 and 2^nd in 2022. In addition, he made the cut in the DPWT event last year, finishing 61^st.

Ham has had three first-round top 10s over the course of his last six starts and back at a venue that clearly suits, he can achieve another in this first round of our combined Genesis Championship.

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