In golf, which became an official sport at the 1982 New Delhi Asian Games, a total of 36 gold medals have been won, with Korea winning 13 of them. At the 2006 Doha and 2010 Guangzhou Games, they swept all four gold medals in the men’s and women’s individual and team events.
However, Korean golf only achieved ‘no gold’ at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games. I had to be satisfied with two silver medals and one bronze medal. It has been 20 years since the 1998 Bangkok Games that Korea failed to win a gold medal at the Asian Games. This is why Korean golf is trying to regain its reputation at the Hangzhou Asian Games, which opens on the 23rd.》
Men’s golf challenge for gold for the first time in 13 years
There are big changes in golf at the Hangzhou Asian Games. Until the last tournament, only amateur players for both men and women were allowed to participate, but from this tournament, professional golfers are also allowed to participate. The number of amateur and professional players is determined by country.
In Korea, Kim Si-woo (28) and Im Seong-jae (25), who are active on the PGA Tour, joined the men’s national team. The two players won tickets to Hangzhou in April last year as top ranked players in the world. As the tournament was postponed for a year due to the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19), there were opinions that a new national team member should be selected, but the Korea Golf Association decided to keep the list as is after going through the reinforcement committee.
Kim Si-woo, with a total of 4 wins on the PGA Tour, and Lim Seong-jae, with 2 wins, are world-class players in name and reality. The two players also stepped on the stage of the Tour Championship, where only the top 30 players participate in last season’s PGA Tour FedEx Cup. ‘Eldest brother’ Siwoo Kim tasted victory at the Sony Open this January. In January 2021, he kissed the trophy two years after the American Express competition.
Seongjae Lim, who was the first Asian player to win PGA Tour Rookie of the Year in the 2018-2019 season, is strong on the big stage. He tied for second place in the 2020 Masters, recording the best performance by a Korean player ever. Although he has not yet won a championship this season, he has successfully entered the top 10 a total of 9 times. Since his debut season, he has been invited to the Tour Championship for five consecutive years, surpassing Tank Choi Gyeong-ju (4 times) and setting the record for the most appearances by a Korean player.
The Korean men’s national team, with the two players joining, is evaluated as ‘the strongest ever’. Kim Si-woo and Lim Seong-jae, who were unable to win a medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, are determined to continue the men’s golf gold streak that was lost 13 years ago in Hangzhou after the 2010 Guangzhou Games. If the two win a gold medal and receive military service benefits, they are expected to gain wings in their tour activities.
The momentum of the amateur brothers is also good. Jo Woo-young (22) and Jang Yu-bin (21) won the Korea Professional Golf (KPGA) Korean Tour tournament this year, beating the pros each. Wooyoung Jo stood at the top at the Golfzon Open in April and Yubin Jang at the Gunsan CC Open in August. It has been 10 years since 2013 that an amateur player combined for two wins on the Korean Tour. In particular, he is improving his practical sense by consistently participating in tour events as an invited player ahead of the tournament. In the case of men’s golf team competitions, the scores of the top three out of four players in each round are added together to determine the rankings, making it important for players to perform evenly.토토사이트
India and Thailand are considered competitors for men’s golf medals. For India, the main players are Anirban Lahiri (36) and Shubhankar Sharma (27), who each won two wins in the DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour), and for Thailand, Pachara Kongwatmai (24), who finished runner-up in this year’s Shinhan Donghae Open after an overtime, is the main player. It is considered as The golf game is played at Westlake International Golf Course, and the fairway is not narrow and is evaluated to be good overall.
Women’s golf must overcome China’s Yin Luoning, ranked first in the world
The women’s national team’s ‘high school three musketeers’ Hyeon-jo Yoo (18), Ji-yu Lim (18), and Min-sol Kim (17) wore the Taegeuk symbol. The three-member women’s national team was originally planned to consist of one professional and two amateurs, but as no suitable applicants came from the pros, the team was formed with amateur players. In the women’s team event, the scores of the top two out of three players in each round are added together.
The youngest member, Kim Min-sol, is attracting attention. Kim Min-sol, who won the Songam Cup Amateur Championship last year, drew attention by breaking through her professional players and tying for fourth place at the Korea Women’s Open in June. She also tied for 5th at the OK Financial Group Shotman Open on the Korea Ladies Professional Golf (KLPGA) Tour, which ended on the 17th.
In the case of women’s golf, host country China is expected to be strong. In particular, Yin Luoning (21), ranked first in the women’s golf world rankings, will participate. Luoning Yin, who won her first win at the LPGA Tour’s Dio Implant LA Open in March this year, is once again on top at her major tournament, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in June, making her mark on the world. announced. In the world rankings announced on the 12th of this month, she ranked first, becoming the second top-ranked Chinese player after Feng Shanshan. In addition, Lin Siyu (27), ranked 12th in the world, also submitted a vote. It is expected that the advantage of the home course will be actively utilized. In addition, the performance of countries such as Taiwan and Thailand is also worth noting. The Korean golf team heads to Hangzhou, the decisive battle site, on the 25th, three days before the start of the match.
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