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2021 men’s Olympic golf: Top 10 power rankings at Kasumigaseki CC

By Mike Randleman

Hideki Matsuyama reacts after putting the 17th during the first round of Rocket Mortgage Classic at the Detroit Golf Club in Detroit, Thursday, July 1, 2021.
Hideki Matsuyama reacts after putting the 17th during the first round of Rocket Mortgage Classic at the Detroit Golf Club in Detroit, Thursday, July 1, 2021. /
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Jun 20, 2021; San Diego, California, USA; Sungjae Im plays his shot from the second tee during the final round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Torrey Pines Golf Course. Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 20, 2021; San Diego, California, USA; Sungjae Im plays his shot from the second tee during the final round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Torrey Pines Golf Course. Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports /

Sungjae Im and fellow South Korean Si-Woo Kim have a lot on the line this week. All 60 golfers assembled at Kasumigaseki Country Club are battling for international glory, of course. It’s deeper than that for Im and Kim.

An Olympic medal is a high enough honor in their home country to exempt them from an otherwise mandatory two-year military service. The other way to earn an exemption is achieving the tougher feat of winning a major championship. It’s for this reason that these two skipped the Open Championship to both prepare for Tokyo, as well as to quarantine and avoid travel leading up to the Games.

It’s rare for a workhorse like Im to take off one week from the PGA Tour, let alone two by skipping last week’s 3M Open.

Perhaps some time off will get him back to the form Im showed contending at the Masters last fall en route to T-2nd, a career best at the majors.

That’s not to say the 23-year-old is playing poorly. Im’s on a streak of four made cuts, highlighted by T-8th at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. The former Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year won on the PGA Tour at the 2020 Honda Classic and has eight top-30s in 2021.

Im is not the longest hitter, but has great precision throughout the bag. He’s 14th on the PGA Tour in driving accuracy (69.08%) and 16th in strokes gained off the tee (.533).

If Kasumigaseki plays soft, Im can play the darts game well. He’s 27th in birdie average (4.05).

A lot of the top players may mail in this event, or at least the brunt work of deep diving into the course at hand. Few should be as prepared as Im for this moment.

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