Getty Image / Mike Ehrmann
In a sport like golf, where how much money you make is dependent on how well you play, the stakes are always high. But, for South Korean stars Si Woo Kim and Sungjae Im, the stakes are even higher this week, as they must win either the team competition or the indvidual competition at the Asian Games in order to avoid South Korea’s compulsory military service.
All men in South Korea ages 18-28 must undergo compulsory military service. That is, unless signifcant criteria are met.
Typically, these criteria applies to those that are exceptional in a discipline, like sports, music, or academics. And, for athletes, it can be met by a gold medal at the Olympic Games or at the Asian Games.
Here is Golf Digest with more.
The opportunity for this life-changing scenario for Im, 25, and Kim, 28, first arose when, in February 2022, news circulated that for the first time professional golfers would be allowed to compete in the Asian Games. Previously, the games were for amateurs only, meaning there was only one real opportunity for professional golfers like Im and Kim to avoid their nation’s mandatory 21-month military-service requirement, and that was by winning a medal of any color at the Olympic Games. When they both failed to do that at the Olympics in Tokyo in 2021, it meant they would have to wait until Paris in 2024, without a guarantee of making the team or a guarantee of being in form, for another opportunity. Winning PGA Tour events, or contending in majors, two things both Im and Kim have done, unfortunately mean nothing when it comes to fulfulling this duty.
Talk about having a lot on the line. Given the constant threat of war breaking out with North Korea at any second, compulsory military service is quite a big ask of its citizenry. Obviously, it’s what South Korea has to do to discourage threats from their northern neighbors.
But, for Si Woo Kim and Sungjae Im, the stakes are somehow even higher than that. A 21-month disruption of their golfing career means they could end up never being the same again. Let’s hope for their sake they can get it done at the Asian Games this weekend.