Chair Lee Jay-hyun of CJ Group visited the PGA Tour's The CJ Cup Byron Nelson in Texas for the first time. The CJ Cup is the first regular PGA Tour event launched by CJ in 2017, and it has been held in the United States since 2020.
According to CJ Group on the 25th, Lee visited the venue in person on the 23rd (local time), reviewed the potential to expand the group's K-lifestyle platform, and called for strengthening global competitiveness. He checked visitor flow and on-site reactions as he toured, in order, the K-lifestyle experience center House of CJ set up in the middle of the course, along with the Bibigo and Olive Young booths and CJ Hospitality.
Lee said, "The CJ Cup should be expanded and developed beyond a simple golf tournament into a platform where people in the United States can directly experience and enjoy K-lifestyle," adding, "Through this, we must rapidly broaden the group's global business scope and help young people in Korea fully pursue their dreams in the global market."
Lee's move is expected to accelerate CJ Group's push into the United States, a strategic market for the company. That is because he chose The CJ Cup as his first global management destination this year. With U.S. MZ generations (born from the late 1980s to the early 2000s) showing heightened interest in K-culture, which is taking root as a mainstream local culture, as well as K-food, beauty, and wellness, it appears he judged now to be the right time to leap forward as a "global lifestyle leading corporations."
Meanwhile, The CJ Cup, held over four days from the 21st to the 24th (local time), ended successfully with about 240,000 spectators in attendance. The tournament, with a total purse of $10.3 million (about 15.1 billion won), featured 144 players. Champion Wyndham Clark (30-under-par 254 total) received a Hangul trophy modeled after Jikjisimcheyojeol and a custom-made cowboy hat. Kim Si-woo of TEAM CJ, supported by CJ Group, finished as runner-up.