Despite 'PGA 2 Consecutive Wins'... Kim Joo-hyung Unable to Participate in Hangzhou Asian Games

Korean Golf Association Maintains Same Selected Players from April
Im Sung-jae, Kim Si-woo, Jang Yu-bin, Jo Woo-young to Participate
PGA: "No Reason to Change the Roster"

Kim Joo-hyung, who has attracted significant attention on the PGA Tour, is being interviewed by Asia Economy on the 31st at a location in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seohee] Kim Juhyung will not be able to participate in the Hangzhou Asian Games held in September next year.

According to the industry on the 2nd, the Korea Golf Association recently held a reinforcement committee meeting and finalized and announced the men's golf national team for the Hangzhou Asian Games postponed to next year. The association decided to keep the men's golf national team members selected in April?Im Sungjae, Kim Siwoo, Jang Yubin, and Cho Wooyoung?as they are.

In April, the Korea Golf Association selected two professional and two amateur players to compete in the Hangzhou Asian Games. The two professionals were selected based on the world rankings announced on April 26, choosing the top two players (19th Im Sungjae, 51st Kim Siwoo), and the two amateurs were selected through the final amateur selection tournament to represent male and female amateur players.

Although there was no problem with the association's method, there were many opinions that the players should be reselected due to the sudden one-year postponement of the Asian Games. This was because there was no guarantee that the condition of players selected a year and a half ago would be maintained until the competition.

There were also claims that Kim Juhyung, who has been performing 'unstoppably' with two wins on the PGA Tour this year, should participate. The argument was that the international competition ticket should be given to the player who has shown the best skills in recent world tournaments.

As of this date, Kim Juhyung is ranked 15th in the world, the highest among Korean players. Im Sungjae is second at 21st. Lee Kyounghoon is 37th, and Kim Siwoo is 71st. If the association were to select players based on the current rankings, Kim Juhyung and Im Sungjae would go to Hangzhou.

The Asian Games are considered a very important event, especially for male golf players. Players who win a gold medal at the Asian Games can receive military service exemption benefits. Moreover, golf has a team event by country, so the possibility of Korean professional players winning gold is relatively high. For this reason, among Korean male golf players, there are voices that the Asian Games are much more important than major tournaments or the Olympics.

An association official explained, “Although there were various controversies, we judged that there was no justification to change the players who went through the existing selection process, so we decided this way.”

Meanwhile, the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games golf event was scheduled to be held for four days from September 15 at the West Lake International Golf Club in Hangzhou, China, but was postponed to September next year due to the coronavirus.