Third competition since being adopted as an official event after 112 years Inbee Park wins gold medal in 2016 World’s top male and female players all in one place Caddies and coaches accompanying without a national team leader

Inbee Park, women’s golf gold medal!

The 2024 Paris Olympics will be the fifth Olympic stage for golf.

Golf was first adopted as an official Olympic sport at the 1900 Paris Games, but disappeared from the Olympics for a while after the 1904 St. Louis Games.

Over the next 112 years, golf gradually became more popular and globalized, returning to the Olympic stage at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.

In 2016, Justin Rose (England) and Inbee Park (Korea) took gold medals in Rio de Janeiro, and in 2021, Xander Schauffele and Nelly Korda (both from the United States) took gold medals in Tokyo.

Golf, held as an individual men’s and women’s event, features 60 players each, and the entries were distributed based on the world rankings from the previous month.

A maximum of four players per country can compete within the top 15 in the world rankings, and from 16th place onwards, the maximum is two players per country.

The men’s competition will be held for four days starting August 1 (local time) and the women’s competition will be held for four days starting on the 7th as a 72-hole stroke play event at the Olympic Course at Le Golf National in France.

Korean golf is looking for its second medal after Inbee Park’s gold medal in 2016.

In the women’s division, Ko Jin-young, Yang Hee-young, and Kim Hyo-joo will compete, and in the men’s division, Kim Joo-hyung and Ahn Byeong-hun will compete.

The women’s trio, all of whom have Olympic experience, are determined to wash away the disappointment of the 2020 Tokyo Games.

At the time, the women’s national team boasted the strongest lineup, consisting of world No. 2 Jin-young Ko, No. 3 In-bee Park, No. 4 Sei-young Kim, and No. 6 Hyo-joo Kim, but finished the tournament tied for 9th place.

Jin Young Ko, ranked 3rd in the world with 15 wins on the LPGA Tour, is leading the way in restoring pride.

Ko Jin-young has yet to win this season, but she has built momentum by finishing in the top 10 in two consecutive tournaments over the past three weeks.

Hee-Young Yang, who tied for fourth place at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, will be competing in the Olympics for the first time in eight years.

Hee Young Yang won her first major title at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, the final tournament to qualify for the Olympics, and is currently ranked fourth in the world.

In the men’s division, the spirited Kim Joo-hyung will make his Olympic debut.

Kim Joo-hyung became the second youngest player in PGA Tour history to win two events, and with his third win, he became the youngest player to do so in 26 years since Tiger Woods.

At the Travelers Championship held on the 24th of last month, he finished in second place after a fierce overtime match against world number 1 Scotty Scheffler (USA).

Although An Byeong-hun has yet to win on the PGA Tour, he has shown consistent form with five top-10 finishes this year, including one runner-up finish.

However, this year, unlike the previous two competitions, the world’s top rankers will all be participating, so the competition on the field is expected to be fierce.

During the Rio Games, many top players did not participate due to concerns over Zika virus infection, and there was even talk of excluding golf from the Olympics.

But this year, things are different. The intangible honors of being an Olympic gold medalist and the tangible benefits of qualifying for major tournaments seem to have had an impact.

As of the 9th of this month, 10 players ranked within the top 15 in the world will be competing in the men’s division.

The remaining five did not qualify because of the rule that no more than four players of the same nationality can compete. All are American citizens.

Team USA was led by world No. 1 Schaeffler, Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Schauffele (3rd), Wyndham Clarke (5th), and Collin Morikawa (6th).

In the women’s division, 18 of the world’s top 20 players are expected to compete.

World No. 1 Korda, along with No. 2 Lilia Bou and No. 8 Rose Zhang (both from the United States), will be challenging for their second consecutive Olympic gold medal wearing the American flag. 안전놀이터