While the golf world turned its eyes to Marco Simone in Rome, two PGA Tour pros have making heads turn in Hangzhou in China. It is where the two achieved a significant milestone of their life away from the sweltering heat of Rome and the humdrum of the Ryder Cup.

For the two South Korean golfers, something more than patriotic glory and personal honor was at stake at the ongoing 2023 Asian Games. How their future career would pan out depended on this and now they will board the return flight with a broad smile on their faces and gold medals around their necks.

What was at stake for the South Korean PGA Tour pros?

South Korea has a mandatory military service rule. Every physically fit man must do 18-21 months of military service before their mid-30s. There is, however, one exception to this rule. You have to win a gold medal at the Olympics or Asian Games to be exempted from the service. Medals of any color will earn you a reduction in the number of months.

For PGA tour pros Kim Si-woo and Im Sung-jae, fast nearing their 30s, this year’s Asian Games was their chance to secure an unhindered golf career. Earlier, the duo participated in the Tokyo Olympics but failed to win a gold medal.

The popular Twitter account, Sung Jae Tracker, shared an update on the Asian Games stating the duo has won the gold medal in the men’s golf team competition at the Asian Games. The South Korean team, aside from them, consisted of two amateurs, Jang Yu-bin and Cho Woo-young. The heavy lifting was done by the two pros as they annihilated Thailand by going over 25 shots.

The victory for the South Korean team means an exemption from military service for Kim, a four-time winner PGA Tour winner and a victor of the Players Championship, and Im, the 2018-19 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, who are arguably two of the biggest names in South Korean men’s golf. Their performance at the Asian Cup was cherished by their fans back home.

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Why are the 2023 Asian Games so important to Kim Si-woo and Im Sung-jae?

For professional golfers, participating in the Asian Games was not an option till the last edition. The organizing committee only allowed amateur golfers to take part in the event.

Thus, for the two PGA Tour pros who failed to win any medal in the Tokyo Olympics, the next option was the 2024 Olympics. However, that changed when the Asian Games announced they’d allow professional golfers to participate in 2023.

The Games are generally hosted in the year of the Winter Olympics. When that got postponed due to COVID-19 last year, Kim and Im, now 28 and 25, must have been anxious. The duo wasn’t sure whether they would be part of the South Korean team for the 2025 Olympics or the next Asian Games. So, for them, it was possibly, their last shot to secure an unhindered pro golf tour future.

But after winning the gold medal in the 2023 Asian Games, the PGA tour pros have secured just that.

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