First Day Leaders Jang Yu-bin and Jo Woo-young
[Asian Games] First Day Leaders Jang Yu-bin and Jo Woo-young “Si-woo and Seong-jae Were a Big Help”
Jang Yu-bin and Cho Woo-young (Korea National Sport University), who took the lead in the first round of men"s golf at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, agreed that the presence of Lim Seong-jae and Kim Si-woo, who play on the national team, were a great help.
Yubin Jang shot a whopping 11 under par 61 in the first round of the first day of the tournament held at the West Lake International Golf Course (par 72, 7,280 yards) in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China on the 28th and took sole first place.
Jo Woo-young also tied for third place with a 9-under par 63 strokes, leading Korea to first place in the team event on the first day.
Even before the opening of the tournament, Seongjae Lim and Siwoo Kim, who had PGA Tour wins, were designated as candidates for individual gold medals, but amateur players Yu-bin Jang and Wooyoung Jo appeared to be leading the early rise of the Korean national team.
However, Jang Yu-bin and Jo Woo-young expressed their gratitude to their two seniors, saying that just watching and learning from Seong-jae Lim and Si-woo Kim was a great help.
Jang Yu-bin explained, “The shot, the contact with the ball, and the quality of the ball are all different, and seeing that gave me and (Cho) Wooyoung an opportunity to solidify our goals for the PGA Tour.”
Jo Woo-young also said, “I learn a lot from watching (Kim) Si-woo and (Lim) Seong-jae,” and added, “I think Yubin and I can lessen the burden because we have older brothers.”
Although Jo Woo-young and Jang Yu-bin are currently amateurs, they each won one win in this year"s Korea Professional Golf (KPGA) Korean Tour.
Jo Woo-young emphasized, "In the athletes" village, the four of us live in a house with three rooms. Me and Yu-bin share a room, and being able to live with our two older brothers is a meaningful time for us."
Seongjae Lim and Siwoo Kim were ranked slightly lower than their younger siblings with 6 under par on the first day, but they are players with the potential to compete for the championship in the remaining 2nd to 4th rounds.
In an interview after the game, Lim Seong-jae said, “We are getting along well, and we are determined to think ‘this Asian Games must be different from other competitions.’
If our juniors do well and Siwoo and I support each other, we can compete in both team and individual competitions.”
“I am confident that we will be able to win the gold medal,” he said.
Seongjae Lim also had a meal with Wooyoung Jo and Yubin Jang when he appeared at the KPGA Korean Tour Woori Finance Championship in May this year.
He explained, "I didn"t have much time to meet my younger siblings, but we were able to get closer to them by eating together."
In particular, winning a gold medal in the team event, which combines the scores of the top three players in each round, is a goal that the four members of the national team cannot miss.
Seongjae Lim did not hide his determination to win the gold medal, saying, “Because one stroke can make a big difference later, I tried to catch at least one more birdie until the end today.”
Kim Si-woo also encouraged Jang Yu-bin, who was being interviewed after the game, by patting her on the back and said, "Seeing all the players on our national team doing well helped me gain more strength," and added, "I think I also worked harder with a sense of responsibility as the older brother."
He said, “My goal is to play better than the day before every day,” and pledged, “I will work hard for the remaining three days so that my performance can be of help in the team competition.”