HANGZHOU, China -- South Korea captured the gold medal in the team event of the men's golf tournament at the Asian Games on Sunday, as a pair of PGA Tour winners joined two amateurs for a comfortable victory.
Kim Si-woo and Im Sung-jae, who have a combined six victories on the top men's tour, along with Jang Yu-bin and Cho Woo-young, scored 76-under to give South Korea its first Asiad gold medal in men's golf since 2010.
The three best scores from the four players were added each round to determine the team rankings. South Korea beat Thailand by 25 shots. Hong Kong finished third at 50-under.
South Korea entered the final round with a 14-stroke lead over Thailand at 58-under and cruised to the top of the podium after shooting a combined 18-under in the final round.
Individually, Im grabbed the silver medal at 26-under, one behind the winner, Kho Taichi of Hong Kong.
Kim Si-woo was the next best South Korean, as he finished in fourth place at 23-under, with Hung Chien-Yao of Chinese Taipei taking the bronze at 24-under.
Jang finished in fifth place at 22-under, and Cho tied for sixth at 17-under.
With the team gold medal, Kim and Im earned exemptions from the mandatory military service. For male South Korean athletes, an Asian Games gold medal or an Olympic medal of any color offer such exemptions. Kim and Im took their first crack at the Tokyo Olympics two years ago but finished well out of medal contention then.
They will now get to enjoy an uninterrupted tour career heading into their late 20s and early 30s. (Yonhap)
