Bae wins Web.com event after two years of mandatory military service

Returning to golf on the PGA Tour this season after two years of mandatory military service in South Korea, Sangmoon Bae won the Albertsons Boise Open on the Web.com Tour on Sunday to regain his PGA Tour card.

Bae finished at 19-under 265, closing with a 5-under 66 at Hillcrest Country Club to edge Anders Albertson (62), Roger Sloan (63) and Adam Schenk (64).

South African legend Gary Player was quick to praise the South Korean, labelling his victory as "possibly the best story of the year."

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Possibly the best story of the year - Sangmoon Bae completes two years of compulsory military service for South Korea and finds himself in the @webdotcomtour winner's circle the next year. What a fantastic effort. Congrats to this fine young man & the sky is the limit for him. GP

A post shared by Gary Player (@gary.player) on Sep 17, 2018 at 12:10pm PDT

He returned to the PGA Tour this season after two years of mandatory military service in South Korea, but lost his card with a 202nd-place finish in the FedEx Cup standings.

The two-time PGA Tour winner entered the week needing a few thousand dollars to wrap up a card and ended up making $180,000.

Albertson had already earned a PGA Tour card with a top-25 finish on the Web.com Tour regular-season money list, and Sloan, Schenk and fifth-place finisher Roberto Diaz all earned enough money to get three of the 25 cards available in the four-event series.

The series features the top 75 players from the Web.com regular-season money list and Nos. 126-200 in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup standings. Albertson and the other top-25 finishers on the Web.com money list are competing against each other for tour priority, with regular-season earnings counting in their totals. The other players are fighting for 25 cards based on series earnings.

The Web.com Tour Championship is next week at Atlantic Beach Country Club in Florida.