World No. 27 Lim Sung-jae (25) will lead the way in restarting the Asian Games gold medal clock for South Korea’s men’s golf team, which hasn’t won since Guangzhou 2010.
For Lim, the Hangzhou Asian Games is a great opportunity to add an international title to his resume, but it also comes with a lot of pressure. With the highest world ranking of any competitor and a trusted teammate, winning the team event is a given, but the pressure can also be toxic.
Seong-Jae Lim is a top player on the PGA Tour, having won the 2019 Rookie of the Year and finished second in the FedExCup Playoffs in 2022. Although he didn’t win the 2022-2023 season, he had nine top-10 finishes out of 30 events and showed promise with a late-season surge to finish 24th in the FedExCup standings.
With golf at the Asian Games now open to professionals, the Korea Golf Association (KGA) called up PGA Tour stars Im Sung-jae and Kim Si-woo, who are both active on the PGA Tour. Kim has four career PGA Tour victories, including a win at the Sony Open in January, and is ranked No. 40 in the world, second only to Lim. Jo Woo-young and Jang Yoo-bin (both of Hansae University), who filled the other two spots on the four-member men’s team, have one win apiece on the Korean Professional Golf Association (KPGA) Korean Tour, where they competed as amateurs after delaying their professional careers.
With most countries sending amateurs as usual, there aren’t many contenders to watch. Anirban Lahiri (No. 142-India), who has won on the European Tour and played in the Presidents Cup, is the most prominent, followed by Shubhankar Sharma (No. 162-India), who plays in Europe, and Asian Tour powerhouse Pachara Kongwatmai (No. 247-Thailand), who recently finished runner-up at the Shinhan Donghae Open.
For the men’s team, the Asian Games is a chance to receive military service benefits. Two years ago at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Lim Sung-jae finished tied for 22nd and Kim Si-woo tied for 32nd, both of whom had hoped for a bronze medal or better. With a precious opportunity to represent Korea at the Asian Games before the Paris 2024 Olympics, they will need to make a statement at what they have called “the most important event of the year.”
On the women’s side, high school athletes Kim Min-sol, Lim Ji-yu (Suseong Bangtongo) and Yoo Hyun-jo (Cheonan Jungang Bangtongo) will be looking to repeat their 2010 team and 2014 individual gold medals. Their biggest challenge will be to overcome China’s strongest team, which is led by world No. 1 In Ling and includes players on the U.S. Women’s Professional Golf (LPGA) Tour.스포츠토토
The golf tournament will be held at the West Lake International Golf Course in Hangzhou for four days, starting on Sept. 28, with both the men’s and women’s individual and team competitions. The individual competition is 72 holes of stroke play, while the team competition is based on the combined scores of the top three players from each country per round.