<\/p>\n
South Korea’s Tom Kim, also known as Kim Joo-hyung, plays a shot in the men\u2019s singles in golf at the Asian Games in Kasugai, central Japan, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (Natsumi Yasumoto\/Kyodo News via AP)<\/p>\n
Natsumi Yasumoto\/Natsumi Yasumoto\/Kyodo News via <\/p>\n
South Korea’s Tom Kim, right, also known as Kim Joo-hyung, celebrates after winning the men\u2019s singles in golf at the Asian Games in Kasugai, central Japan, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (Natsumi Yasumoto\/Kyodo News via AP)<\/p>\n
Natsumi Yasumoto\/Natsumi Yasumoto\/Kyodo News via <\/p>\n
South Korea’s Tom Kim, also known as Kim Joo-hyung, reacts as he wins the men\u2019s singles in golf at the Asian Games in Kasugai, central Japan, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (Natsumi Yasumoto\/Kyodo News via AP)<\/p>\n
Natsumi Yasumoto\/Natsumi Yasumoto\/Kyodo News via <\/p>\n
Kazuki Higa holds his silver medal after a playoff in the men\u2019s singles in golf at the Asian Games in Kasugai, central Japan, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (Natsumi Yasumoto\/Kyodo News via AP)<\/p>\n
Natsumi Yasumoto\/Natsumi Yasumoto\/Kyodo News via <\/p>\n
A Japanese player reacts as South Korea’s team members celebrate their victory in the men\u2019s final in football at the Asian Games in Toyota, central Japan, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (Taichi Nagahisa\/Kyodo News via AP)<\/p>\n
Taichi Nagahisa\/Taichi Nagahisa\/Kyodo News via A<\/p>\n
NAGOYA, Japan (AP) \u2014 South Korean golfer Tom Kim got what he came for by winning the men’s singles on Saturday at the Asian Games: a gold medal and an exemption from military service back home.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He shot a 6-under 64 in Saturday’s final round for a four-day total of 18-under 262. Three golfers were three back and faced a playoff with Kazuki Higa of Japan taking silver and Thailand’s Sadom Kaewkanjana earning bronze.<\/p>\n
Tom Kim made a special effort to win in Japan, flying across the Pacific when the Presidents Cup competition ended last weekend.<\/p>\n
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Asked about the exemption, he took the gold-medal approach.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite that, I\u2019m more proud that I\u2019m able to bring a medal for my country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He did acknowledge pressure \u2014 the flight, the expectations, the gold medal and more.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tried not to think about it,\u201d he said. \u201cI just tried to play (the) best for my country. It’s a big stepping stone. I think the pressure that I felt this week, I’ll be able to implement it in my upcoming seasons.”<\/p>\n
Most able-bodied men in South Korea must serve about 18 months in uniform, but a medal of any color at the Olympics \u2014 or gold in the Asian Games \u2014 provides an out.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
However, South Korea failed to win the team competition. That means that S.H. Kim, who played on the team with Tom Kim, did not get the exemption. He closed with a 73 and the third team member, 35-year-old Mun Do-yeob, shot 70. Mun had already served and did not need the exemption.<\/p>\n
Kim Joo-hyung goes by Tom Kim when he plays on the PGA Tour, and Kim Seong-hyeon goes by S.H. Kim when he plays abroad.<\/p>\n
China won the team event with silver for South Korea and bronze for Japan.<\/p>\n
The military exemption in South Korea also applies to classical and traditional musicians, dancers and other artists who are viewed as enhancing national pride.<\/p>\n
The Asian Games format was 72 holes of stroke play. The teams were made up of three players, but only the best two scores counted each day toward the team total.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Tom Kim dominated the 7,035-yard at the Kasugai Country Club. The last two days he carded eagles on the par-5 13th, a 520-yard hole that was very gettable on sunny days for the final rounds with little wind.<\/p>\n
South Koreans at the games have taken advantage<\/p>\n
Sixteen South Korea baseball players are also exempt after defeating Japan 3-1 in the Asian Games final earlier in the week. So are three South Koreans who won gold in esports, an event at the Asian Games. And then there are the members of the South Korean soccer team, which defeated Japan 1-0 on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course the result is important, and the fact that the players will be exempt from the military service is important,\u201d said Lee Sang-hyeok, who is known as \u201cFaker\u201d in the world of esports.<\/p>\n
Lee won gold three years ago at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, and this time helped teammates avoid the conscription.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Some at home question if the exemption \u2014 created more than 50 years ago \u2014 is fair. The South Korean news agency Yonhap a few days ago termed the system \u201coutdated\u201d and called for change.<\/p>\n
The news agency said the baseball game victory over Japan \u201csymbolically reflects the changed times and the public’s expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n
SNTV video journalist Nicky Zhu contributed to this report.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
See full AP coverage of Asian sports here<\/p>\n
See AP\u2019s full golf coverage here<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South Korea’s Tom Kim, also known as Kim Joo-hyung, plays a shot in the men\u2019s singles in golf…","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"csco_display_header_overlay":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_volume":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7383,7381,3412,3413,5011,3410,5007,7385,5543,5009,7382,7384,6583,7380,623,624,80],"class_list":["post-12537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-kazuki-higa","tag-lee-sang-hyeok","tag-package-100024-ap-online","tag-package-100373-mc-complete-state-national","tag-package-100502-member-choice-sports-option","tag-product-30598-ap-national-news-report-a-wire","tag-product-30599-ap-sports-news-s-wire-only","tag-product-31997-ap-online-asia-news","tag-product-32560-ap-online-golf-news","tag-product-32562-ap-online-other-sports-news","tag-sadom-kaewkanjana","tag-seonghyeon-kim","tag-south-korea","tag-south-korea-asian-games-golf-tom-tim","tag-texas","tag-texas-golf","tag-tom-kim","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@fogolf\/117395101055650557","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}