Inbee Park leads quartet bidding to extend Korea's dominance of women's golf
Challengers to the Koreans include teenage stars Lydia Ko of New Zealand and Brooke Henderson of Canada
Golfing legend Inbee Park is leading the Korean drive for glory at the Olympic Golf Course in Rio. (Photo: Getty Images/Scott Halleran)
Jang Ha-Na can consider herself unlucky. A two-time winner on the LPGA tour this season, the world no.10 is not considered good enough to earn a spot on the four-strong Republic of Korea women's golf team who will begin their Rio 2016 Olympic Games campaign on the morning of Wednesday (17 August).
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At July's British Open, four Koreans finished in the top 10. Just one of them, Chin In Gee, the 2015 US Open champion, has made it to Rio. Korean women take up nine places among the world's top 20, and 20 of the world's top 50. The eye-popping statistics underline the stranglehold Korea has on the women's game.
Winner of eight major championships and one of the all-time greats of golf, Park Inbee leads the Korean quartet looking to win the sport's first women's Olympic gold for 116 years. Kim Seiyoung, who has won twice on the LPGA tour in 2016, and Yang Hee Young, with five top-three finishes to her name this season, complete the stellar line-up.
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There is still hope for the remaining 56 competitors. Since Park's 2015 British Open win –Korea's third major title of a remarkable season – no Korean has claimed one of the big five. Park herself withdrew from both the 2016 US and British Open championships, citing the need for treatment ahead of Rio 2016 to heal a recurring left thumb injury.
Korean-born Lydia Ko, who represents New Zealand, has been similarly focused on Olympic gold and she arrived in Rio in time to watch Justin Rose win the men's title on Sunday. At 19, the youngest ever world no.1 and youngest major winner, Ko has already won five times in 2016.
Ko has, however, seen a rival emerge this year for the title of golf's most talented teenager. Canada's Brooke Henderson, 18, beat Ko in a play-off to win the ANA Inspiration in June.
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Another youngster to add her name to the mix this year was Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand. Aged 20, she became Thailand's first winner of a major tournament when she ran away with last month's British Open.
Another major winner, Lexi Thompson of the USA, no veteran herself at 21, leads a powerful-looking USA line-up.
