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Chairman Yoon: South Korea’s sports maestro

Chairman Yoon: South Korea’s sports maestro

[Editor’s note: This excerpt is from the November/December 2023 issue of Golf Inc., which reprinted an article from Golf Inc. Korea, a partner that has produced a version of Golf Inc. magazine for Korea since 2019.]

Yoon Se-young discovered the meaning of life through golf.

He began playing golf as a kid in the fields near his home and fell in love with the challenge, friendship and peace of mind that it brought to his life. He found golf to be “a delightful sport” unmatched by any other.

That love for the game eventually led him to make golf a big part of his professional career. The founding chairman of Seoul Broadcasting System, now known as SBS Media Group, Yoon was in a position to take what was then a small sport for the elite and transform it into the $9.7 billion industry that it is today.

To make that happen, Chairman Yoon leaned on big ideas — what he calls moon-shot thinking — along with savvy business acumen and long-term financial support.

Today there are 50 million Korean golfers and a host of professional tour players. Yoon, more so than any other individual, helped propel Korean golf to its current status.

The International Sports Press Association (AIPS) recently recognized Yoon, making him the first Asian recipient of its A Life in Sport Award.

Golf Inc. Korea congratulates Yoon Se-young for this accomplishment.

A life in broadcast and a love for golf

The prestigious AIPS Sport Media Awards are the only global prizes for sports journalism. They pay homage to the best journalists, photographers and video makers from around the world.

With more than 10,000 sports journalists from 161 countries as members, AIPS has been presenting the Sports Media Awards since 2018.

“The founder of the terrestrial TV commercial broadcasting, Chairman Yoon has left his mark as a sports administrator and broadcaster for the past 30 years and showed excellent leadership in sports diplomacy, Olympics activities, globalization of golf, and so on,” AIPS announced.

The association said Chairman Yoon’s “contribution and legacy to sports has been massive in South Korea.”

Chairman Yoon not only helped popularize the sport by broadcasting golf competitions but also spared no expense in building the game.

His professional involvement in sports began when he served as the chairman of the Seoul Handball Federation in 1981, a decade before starting SBS Media. He was also the first director of KBL professional basketball, and later chairman of the Korea Golf…

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