At 17, the youngest member of the Korean women’s golf team, Kim Min-sol (Suseong Bangtongo), has made a bold statement to compete at the Hangzhou Asian Games.
With just over a month to go until the start of the Hangzhou Asian Games, Lim Ji-yu, Yoo Hyun-jo (18) and Kim Min-sol will represent Korea in the women’s golf team. Kim was ranked No. 1 in the Asian Games selection process. As an amateur, she tied for fourth place at this year’s Korean Women’s Open, a major event on the Korean Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) tour.
South Korea’s women’s golf team did not fare well at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta-Palembang, despite being labeled the world’s strongest. They failed to make the cut in the individual competition and finished with a silver medal behind the Philippines in the team competition. South Korean women’s golf hadn’t won a gold medal in either the team or individual events since the 2002 Busan Asian Games until the 2014 Incheon Games, a streak that ended at the last edition.
In recent years, women’s golf in Southeast Asia, including the Philippines and Thailand, has grown tremendously, and the host nation, China, is expected to send a number of its players to the Hangzhou Asian Games, many of whom are active on the U.S. Women’s Professional Golf (LPGA) Tour. This will be a tough challenge for the Korean women’s golf team.
Kim Min-sol is aware of this, but that doesn’t mean she feels any pressure to win a gold medal. “There is no pressure,” she said confidently, adding, “I don’t think any country in particular is my competition. I just have to play my game,” he said confidently. When asked, “If you had to choose between an individual and a team gold medal, which would you choose?” he laughed and replied, “The individual, of course.” He was unfazed by the question.
Kim has a powerful shot that comes from her height of 1.78 meters. Her mental attitude is even more impressive, as she was not nervous at all during her first LPGA Tour event last year, when she was invited to play by invitation and her eyes lit up as she called it “fun”.
Golf at the Hangzhou Asian Games will be held at the Hangzhou West Lake International Golf Course. The Chinese side has not yet opened the course. “We don’t have any information about the course. We don’t even know what kind of grass it is yet. I don’t know what to expect, so I’m trying to focus on each situation every time I train,” said Kim.
The Hangzhou Asian Games were originally scheduled to take place last year, but were postponed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic in China, which led to a reshuffling of the women’s golf team, and Kim was selected to compete in Hangzhou. “When I was in the reserves, I only received a hat with the Taeguk mark and a bag, but when I was officially selected for the national team, I was given a uniform. I’m very proud and honored to wear the national uniform to the tournament.”메이저사이트
Kim Min-sol said, “Recently, I have been focusing on putting practice and have become more confident with my putts. Even if I turn professional in the future, my goal is to go to the Olympics again with the Korean flag and win an Olympic gold medal like Park In-bee.”