Bae - No Happy New Year      

South Korean Bae Sang-moon, 28, is one of the few top professional golfers who right now won’t be bubbling with excitement at the prospect of getting his teeth into the 2015 season.

As a US PGA Tour winner last year, this outstanding young prospect is eligible and will line up with 35-odd other Tournament winners in the Tour’s 2015 opener, the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, in Hawaii next week.

But there is a strong possibility that the World No 84’s golf career will be disrupted very soon after that by a demand from the South Korean military authorities that he return home before the end of January to complete his military service.

The Yonhap news agency reported this week that Bae's mother had disclosed that the overseas travel permit extension request by Bae had been rejected by the Military Manpower Administration.

This meant, she explained, that her son’s current permit would soon expire and he would have to abandon the PGA Tour and return home by the end of January if he wished to avoid criminal charges.

In the meantime Bae’s manager has released a statement saying: “Bae is seeking legal council to work through the military issues in Korea.

"He has a valid green card, and Sang-moon intends to stay in the United States as long as it is lawful to do so and play on the PGA Tour this year, beginning with next week's Hyundai Tournament of Champions at Kapalua Resort.”

With his country still technically at war with North Korea, all South Korean men between 18 and 35 must complete two years of military service although It is a fact, however, that supreme sporting success has enabled some Korean sports stars to avoid military service, their government notably waiving the service requirement for any athlete winning Asian Games gold or an Olympic medal.

Bae, who clinched his second PGA Tour victory at the Frys.Com Open in October, is the highest-ranked South Korean golfer in the world right now and is a strong contender to represent South Korea in golf’s return to the Olympic Games in Brazil in 2016

Also already a winner of tournaments on the Asian, Japan and OneAsia Tours, Bae made his PGA Tour debut in 2012 and was granted US residency two years ago.

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