Projected battle between USA and South Korea in women’s golf at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo

Inbee Park (Wojciech Migda, Wikimedia Commons)

The women’s golf competition at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021, could come down to two countries–the United States and South Korea. On July 6, the fields for the Olympic men’s and Olympic women’s competitions were officially finalized. While on the men’s side, the American men look solid (four players ranked in the top five), on the women’s side, the American women should receive stiff competition from a South Korean quartet that have four players ranked in the top six.

The South Korean golfers set to compete in Tokyo are world number two Jin Young Ko, world number three and reigning Olympic gold medalist Inbee Park, world number four Sei Young Kim, and world number six Hyo-Yoo Kim. Among the four Koreans, they have 11 majors in women’s golf, including a remarkable seven won by Park alone.

The American women are world number one Nelly Korda (fresh off her 2021 Women’s PGA Championship title), world number five Danielle Kang, world number nine Lexi Thompson, and world number 13 Jessica Korda (Nelly’s older sister).  While we all know that Nelly and Jessica’s father Petr won the 1998 Australian Open in tennis, you may not know that the sisters’ mother Regina Rajchrtova represented the old country of Czechoslovakia at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul in the sport of tennis. Rajchrtova lost in the first round of women’s singles, 7-5, 7-5, to Leila Meskhi of the Soviet Union.

There are three other golfers ranked in the top ten on the women’s side. Brooke Henderson of Canada is seventh, Yuka Saso of the Phillippines is eighth, and Lydia Ko of New Zealand is 10th. However, the Americans and South Koreans have the most depth when it comes to the Olympic women’s golf tournament.

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