Sung-jae Im will win a major in 2021

For most players on the PGA Tour, winning a major is a goal. For Sung-jae Im, it holds a bit more weight than it does for any other player. If he wins a major, he will be allowed to forgo South Korea’s mandatory two-year military service.

If you are a male born in South Korea, then part of your responsibility to the country is to serve two years of service in the military by the time that you are 28. There have been some notable athletes that have been excused from this due to exemplary results in the sports that they play. Sung-jae Im is looking to do this, and the path for him is fairly limited.

Sung-jae Im is only 22 (turning 23 in March), so he still has a few years remaining before he will serve his mandatory service. For Im, it sounds like there are going to be two different ways that he will be able to receive an exemption from said service.

The first one is the Olympics. Im was playing great earlier this year and frankly has continued to do so. He thought that he was going to head into the Olympics strong, but the event was pushed back due to the pandemic. He is still going to have an opportunity and if he earns a medal while playing there, he will likely receive the exemption.

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This is the situation that a handful of professional athletes from South Korea have found themselves in. By earning a medal for their country, they no longer have to serve. I’ve known about this requirement for a while, every since Shin-Soo Choo was on the Mariners in the mid-2000’s.

Choo earned his exemption as a part of the 2010 team at the Baseball section of the Olympics that earned the gold medal. The entire team earned the exemption, and others have done so as well in other sports. Most recently, it was 2018 gold medal soccer player Son Heung Min, and Lee Jung-hoo, who won gold in baseball the same year.

Sung-jae Im will have his chance at the delayed 2021 Olympics. It sounds like he is also going to have one more chance, one that is unique to his situation.

If Im is able to win a major, then he will also be given an exception and be able to continue his golf career, without having to take a hiatus. It could very well happen, as Im is one of the best young golfers in the game. In fact, he finished T-2nd with Cameron Smith at the most recent Masters.

That’s why I think that Sung-jae Im will earn his exemption, and earn it soon. He will win one of the majors in the upcoming 2021 season, and show that he is one of the best golfers in the new up and coming wave of talented young athletes.