Korean golf will be looking to ‘revive its gold medal fortunes’ at the Asian Games with a duo from the US PGA Tour. Korea has won the most medals in golf at the Asian Games with 13 gold, 13 silver and nine bronze medals .In particular, they dominated the Asian Games in Doha 2006 and Guangzhou 2010, winning four gold medals in the men’s and women’s individual and team events .At the 2014 Incheon Games, the hosts were embarrassed by Park’s gold medal in the women’s individual event, but failed to defend their title in any other event, and the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games saw their dominance falter after 20 years of ‘no gold’ .In Jakarta, Japan swept the men’s individual and team titles, while the Philippines took both gold medals in the women’s event. South Korea had to settle for silver in the men’s individual event (Oh Seung-taek), bronze in the team event and silver in the women’s team event. No medals were won in the women’s individual event for the first time since golf became an official Asian Games sport at the 1990 Beijing Games .Korean golf will look to make a comeback at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games, where rounds one to four will be held from 28 September to 1 October. One of the biggest changes from previous editions of the Games is that professional players will be allowed to compete. Golf has been a part of the Olympic programme since Rio de Janeiro in 2016, when it was reinstated, but not at the Asian Games until 2018.However, this time around, the golf programme removed the ‘amateur only’ stipulation, opening the way for professional players to compete. There are analysts who believe that the Asian Games were influenced by the Olympic Games, which featured a large number of world-class professional athletes and was a box office success. As a result, South Korea, which has been dominated by amateur high school athletes, also fielded an Asian Games team with professional athletes .Two professionals and two amateurs were selected for the four-player men’s team. The three-player women’s team was supposed to consist of one professional and two amateurs, but the professionals declined to compete, so the team was made up entirely of amateurs. The men’s team will be led by PGA Tour players Lim Sung-jae and Kim Si-woo, who are expected to win the double .Amateurs Cho Woo-young and Jang Yoo-bin, who were selected through a selection process, have already proved themselves to be ‘ready professionals’ by winning back-to-back tournaments on the Korean Professional Golf Association (KPGA) Korean Tour this year, so the men’s team is well placed to challenge for gold in both the individual and team events .For the men, the military service benefits that come with winning gold will be a huge motivator .For Lim Sung-jae and Kim Si-woo, it could be a chance to focus on the PGA Tour, while Cho Woo-young and Jang Yoo-bin, who delayed their professional careers to wait for the Asian Games, which were postponed by a year, could consider going overseas if they win gold .On the women’s side, high school students Yoo Hyun-jo, Kim Min-sol and Lim Ji-yu wore the Korean flag. Although the women’s team is not as strong as the men’s team because of the presence of professional golfers, they have shown their competitiveness in professional tournaments, including Kim Min-sol, who finished in the top 10 at the BMW Championship on the LPGA Tour in Korea last year. On the men’s side, the main contenders are Japan, who won the gold medal at the last edition, and home team China, while on the women’s side, China has emerged as a dark horse as the Southeast Asian surge is expected to continue .The Chinese will be represented by Yin Luning, who recently topped the world rankings after winning two majors on the LPGA Tour this year, including the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. China has no gold medals in Asian Games golf, with five silver and four bronze. The Asian Games golf competition will be held at the West Lake International Golf Course in Hangzhou, with the Chinese not opening the course 바카라사이트 until shortly before the event, so course acclimatisation will be key.