The Korean Revolution

A combination of professional triumphs and high-profile events is helping to turn South Korea into a golfing superpower.

- Tom Mackin

At the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, the expectation for the Korean women’s golf team was simple: win. Not just the gold medal. Or the silver. But all three medals. Such is the standard now for a country that currently has half of the 50 top-ranked women’s professional golfers in the world.

The medal sweep did not happen – Inbee Park did win the gold by five strokes, but Lydia Ko (from New Zealand, although she was born in South Korea) won silver and Shanshan Feng (China) took the bronze – but it’s a small blemish on the outstanding record Korean women have compiled in both the professional and amateur ranks. The resume includes wins in six of the last nine US Opens (most recently In Gee Chun in 2015) and the 2016 US Women’s Amateur (Eun Jeong Seong); five British Women’s Open titles (starting with Se Ri Pak in 2001); and the past two LPGA Rookies of the Year (In Gee Chun and Sei Young Kim).

Making that success more impressive is that it comes in a sport that generally ranks fourth in popularity behind men’s soccer, baseball and basketball in South Korea.

“Golf is seen by people as the elite sport,” says Peter Rutherford, a Scotland native who lives in Seoul and works for Thompson Reuters as chief sub-editor for sports in Asia. “A lot of guys don’t want to admit being golfers. When there’s trouble with North Korea and you’re a government minister caught out on the golf course rather than being at your desk, your job is on the line. It has changed a lot, though, since Se Ri Pak and the other Koreans started winning.”

A pivotal moment