In this EPA photo, An Byeong-hun of South Korea (R) shares his putter with teammate Tom Kim on the eighth hole during their practice round for the Paris Olympics at Le Golf National in Guyancourt, France, on July 30, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
PARIS, Jul. 31 (Korea Bizwire) — The men’s golf tournament of the Paris Olympics will begin Thursday at Le Golf National, just south of the French capital, with two PGA Tour pros looking to bring South Korea its first men’s golf medal.
An Byeong-hun will play at his second Olympic Games, after tying for 11th at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Tom Kim, a three-time PGA Tour winner whose Korean first name is Joo-hyung, will make his Olympic debut.
An will tee off next to Shane Lowry of Ireland and Nick Taylor of Canada in the first round at 11:44 a.m.
Kim will play the opening round with former world No. 1 from Australia, Jason Day, and Sepp Straka of Austria, starting at 9:55 a.m.
An is the son of two Olympic table tennis medalists. His father, Ahn Jae-hyung, won the men’s doubles bronze medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. His future wife, Jiao Zhimin of China, won silver in the women’s doubles and bronze in the women’s singles at the same competition.
An has recorded five top-10 finishes in 19 starts on the PGA Tour this year, including a playoff loss at the Sony Open in January. But his last top-10 came in May and An has broken 70 just twice over his last 12 rounds.
Kim only has two top-10s in 22 events this season, and one of them came in a playoff loss to world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler at the Travelers Championship in June. Kim went on to miss the cut at two of his next three tournaments.
The star-studded field of 60 players will feature Xander Schauffele, the defending champion from the U.S. who won two majors this year, fellow American Scheffler, who has won six PGA Tour titles this year, and Rory McIlroy, a Northern Irish star who will represent Ireland for the second consecutive Olympics.
Also on Thursday, South Korea will face mighty Sweden in its fourth Group A match of the women’s handball tournament. South Korea has dropped two straight games after winning the opener last week, and is in danger of missing the quarterfinals.
(Yonhap)
