By Yoon Chul
South Korea’s men and women took all four gold medals in golf for the second consecutive Asian Games, Saturday.
At Dragon Lake Golf Club, Kim Meen-whee and Kim Hyun-soo collected two gold medals, each.
Kim Meen-whee carded a final round 3-under 69 for a 15-under 273 for a comfortable win over Miguel Tabuena from the Philippines, who recorded a 6-under 282 in the men’s competition. Lee Kyoung-hoon finished fourth at 3-under and Lee Jae-hyeok (3-over) came in ninth and Park Il-hwan (5-over) finished 12th.
Korea also took gold in the team competition. For each round the three best scores are added together. Kim led the dominant victory, with rounds of 3-under, 4-under, 5-under and 3-under. Korea finished at 22-under 842 shots, 32 shots ahead of silver medal winner India.
In the women’s competition Kim Hyun-soo’s 11-under 277 was good enough to take the gold medal and Kim Ji-hee, who shared second with Jing Yan of Chinese at 1-under, lost in extra holes to go home with the bronze.
In the women’s team competition the sum of the best two golfers’ records are added together each round and Korea again recorded a commanding win finishing with a 16-under 560, 11 strokes ahead of China. Han Jung-eun, along with the two Kims, had an impressive third round total of 11-under to set up the victory.
Korea, which has already seen its golfers shine on the LPGA Tour and PGA Tours, again proved that they are currently the top Asian golfing nation.