To mark the sixth edition of the Ballantine’s Championship, Korea’s No 1 golf tournament and the fourth biggest in Asia, Ballantine’s – the leading ultra-premium Scotch whisky in Korea – has created a unique video showcasing some of the world’s greatest players undertaking a challenge of a different kind.
Featuring a host of legendary names including World Number 7 Louis Oosthuizen, Ryder Cup Captain Paul McGinley, Major winner Y E Yang and former Ballantine’s Championship winner Marcus Fraser, the video showcases what happened when the players were introduced to the “Ballantine’s Championship Tuho Challenge” during the tournament, currently taking place at Blackstone Golf Course in South Korea.
A fun test of hand/eye coordination, “Tuho” is a traditional Korean game which involves throwing rubber-tipped sticks into a canister and is usually associated with welcoming guests to the country and introducing them to local culture.
Players were given five attempts at throwing a two-foot stick from two metres away, then five attempts at chipping a golf ball in from five metres, with scores being taken to establish the overall challenge winner. A video of the “Ballantine’s Championship Tuho Challenge” can be seen by clicking on the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-R0POIbxHU&feature=youtu.be
Proving extremely popular with the players and generating some exceptional moments for the camera, South Korea’s Ryu Hyun-woo won the Challenge after ‘holing out’ with a sand-wedge to earn five points, three points clear of a trio of runners-up – another home favourite Kim Dae-sub, France’s Rafael Jacquelin and England’s Lee Slattery.
Ryu, who won the Coca-Cola Tokai Classic on the Japan Tour last September, earned a bottle of Ballantine’s 17 Year Old for winning the challenge, which was held as part of the Ballantine’s Championship Pro-Am.
He was among 55 pros that took part in the competitive Challenge and the only player to chip the ball into the smallest of targets, earning five points and a huge cheer from his amateur playing partners.
Kim, Jacquelin and Slattery finished second with two points after holing two of five sticks, whilst Yang and fellow Koreans Bae Sang-moon, Park Sang-hyun and Choi Ho-sung all hit the target with one throw.
The usually dead-eye Oosthuizen missed with all his attempts whilst Paul McGinley was among those to come close with the golf ball, the Ryder Cup Captain agonisingly clipping the rim.