Junghwan Lee delighted jubilant home fans as he surged to his first DP World Tour title at the 2025 Genesis Championship.
The 34-year-old South Korean started the final round four shots behind joint leaders Mikael Lindberg and Nacho Elvira and his challenge looked over before it began with a bogey at the second.
Lee reeled off five straight birdies from the third to catapult up the leaderboard and was one behind Elvira, who was in the solo lead at ten under, after another gain at the tenth.
He carded the lowest round of the tournament with his stunning seven-under 64 at Woo Jeong Hills Country Club after birdies at the 14th and last set the clubhouse target of 11 under par.
Elvira could not keep pace and bogeys at the last two holes saw him hand a three-shot victory to Lee.
As a result, Lee will take up membership on the DP World Tour and he will travel to the first event of the DP World Tour Play-Offs at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship next month.
"I feel like I'm in a dream, I still can't believe I won so it's really hard to describe how I'm feeling right now," Lee said.
"I think overall I played very well, but on 12 I had a tee-shot miss and I thought I was done there but I was able to save that ball, and that's when I thought the tables are turning and the gods are looking down on me.
"I really feeling like I'm dreaming. I really, really wanted to go to DP World Tour and I was actually working really hard towards that goal, but somehow I was coming up short a little bit - I was really making the effort - and now I have this really great opportunity. I'm just really grateful."
The leading pair held a two-shot advantage heading into the final round, but Andrea Pavan and Song Minhyuk made fast starts to cut the gap to one.
Pavan opened with a bogey but rattled off six birdies over the next nine holes to climb to seven under, with Song beginning Sunday with three straight birdies before adding another at the eighth.
However, Elvira moved ahead on his own at nine under with a confident putt at the third from 12 feet.
Lindberg had company at one behind thanks to Lee's birdie blitz from the third.
Elvira took advantage of the par-five fifth and when he rolled in his second birdie of the day from six feet, he was the first man in double figures.
Lee became the Spaniard's closest rival at nine under after another birdie at the tenth before the heavens opened as the final group reached the turn.
A life-changing win for Junghwan Lee 🏆#GenesisChampionship pic.twitter.com/buLmYv0d16
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) October 26, 2025
The heavy rain did not stop Lee's momentum and he joined Elvira at the summit on ten under after his seventh birdie of the day at the 14th from 12 feet.
Lee was then on his own at the top after the Spaniard dropped his first shot of the final round at the 11th just as the downpour relented.
Elvira returned to the top of the leaderboard with a birdie at the 15th, however, when Lee birdied the last for the fourth day running, the South Korean was in the clubhouse at 11 under par.
The Spaniard produced a clutch par putt at the 16th, but he found the fairway bunker at the penultimate hole to slip two behind Lee.
He needed an eagle at the 18th to force a play-off, but he found the water with his second shot as his challenge evaporated.
England's Laurie Canter eagled the last with a putt of 100 feet to sit alongside Elvira in a share of second at eight under.
Pavan was joined by Englishman Andy Sullivan and Japan's Yuto Katsuragawa at seven under.
Lindberg, home pair Song and Seungbin Choi, Spain's Angel Ayora, Japan's Hideki Matsuyama, Belgian Thomas Detry and American Jordan Gumberg, who eagled the last to keep his card for next season, were one shot further back.
