Sang-Moon Bae fighting return to South Korea for military conscription
Sang-Moon Bae's golf career is in danger of being interrupted by military service.
The two-time PGA Tour winner is vowing legal action after the South Korean government declined to extend his visa beyond 2014, according to Golf Week's Alex Miceli.
That means Bae must return home within 30 days of the expiration of the visa for mandatory military conscription. South Korea technically remains at war with North Korea, therefore all men between the ages of 18 and 35 are required by law to serve for two years in the military.
“I not go back. I not go back, definitely,” Bae said Wednesday. "I will take legal action. I couldn’t understand why they denied it.”
Bae, 28, received a green card in 2013 and believed he would continue to receive exemptions from South Korea's Military Manpower Administration.
"If I have a green card, I can extend five or six year more. I don’t know why they didn’t approve (an extension)," he said.
Bae, who is the highest-ranked Korean on the Tour at No. 83, won the Frys.com Open in October as well as the HP Byron Nelson Championship in May 2013.
He is exempt on the Tour through the 2016-17 season, but will only have past-champion status if he returns to Korea after September 2017.