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To make the Olympic Team in Tokyo, 2016 gold-medal winner Inbee Park figured she needed to win twice before the June qualifying deadline. Park won the last tournament the LPGA held, the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open, in mid-February before a global pandemic halted the sports world. It would’ve been a tall order to secure a second title with the tour not set to restart until mid-May at the earliest.
But now, with the IOC making the announcement on Tuesday that the Olympic Games will be postponed, Park actually has time on her side.
Officials agreed that the games will be held by the summer of 2021.
“No matter how I say it, it’s definitely an important year for me,” said Park at the start of 2020. “Even whether I get an opportunity or whether I don’t, I think I just want to have a season that I won’t regret. I just want to give myself a lot of opportunities.”
Opportunities are in short supply these days, with only mini-tour tournaments in Central Florida and Phoenix, Arizona, now taking place amidst the coronavirus outbreak.
If the Olympics were held today, Park would be the first alternate on the South Korean team, despite being No. 11 in the world. World No. 1 Jin Young Ko, Sung Hyun Park, Sei Young Kim and Jeong Eun Lee6 would be the four players representing South Korea. Neither Ko nor Sung Hyun Park have competed on the LPGA in 2020.
The top 15 players in the Olympic Golf Rankings are automatically eligible, with a maximum of four players per country.
Added time also bodes well for the Americans, who right now only have three players inside the top 15 (Nelly Korda, Danielle Kang and Lexi Thompson).
Nelly’s older sister, Jessica, is currently ranked 16th in the world. Neither of the Korda sisters competed in Rio.
In 2016, Stacy Lewis was the top American on the board, finishing just outside the medals in a share of fourth place. Gerina Piller tied for 11th and Thompson tied for 19th.
New Zealand’s Lydia Ko took the silver medal and China’s Shanshan Feng claimed bronze.
The host country currently has three players on the qualifying list: Nasa Hataoka, Hinako Shibuno and Ai Suzuki.
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