Sang-moon Bae to keep PGA Tour exemption with ‘mandatory obligation’ clause

Sang-moon Bae will not lose his PGA Tour status while serving a compulsory two-year term in the South Korean military.

The PGA Tour is changing the language behind its exemption for medical and other crisis situations to include a clause including "mandatory obligations," like conscripted military service.

Per Tour statement, plan in place to have "mandatory obligation" language added to medical/crisis exempt. Would allow Bae to retain status.

— Will Gray (@WillGrayGC) July 22, 2015

In other words, when Bae's military service ends sometime in 2017, the South Korean will be able to return with some PGA Tour status.

Bae announced he would be returning to his native Korea after a court ruled he must go home to serve the two-year term required for all South Korean men aged 18-35. The two-time PGA Tour winner had argued he should be exempt from the service on the basis of his permanent U.S. citizen and the number of days he spent out of Korea in 2014. A court ruled against him Wednesday, and Bae said he would not fight the matter further.