Why Tom Kim’s pursuit of Olympic medal has complicated subplot

SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France — Most of us have no clue what Tom Kim or Ben An are confronting. 

They are professional golfers 24-7, 365. That’s the easy part. But they are also able-bodied men who hail from South Korea, which means they are obligated to serve 21 months of military service before they turn 35, and are expected to begin that service by 28. That part sounds less easy. 

An is 32 and lives in Orlando; Kim is just 22 and lives in Dallas. So their situations differ. An’s obligation looms large, after he postponed enlisting for multiple years. Kim’s is less pressing, in part because he’s a decade younger and also because he shot 66 Thursday and is an early contender here at the Olympics. Any South Korean who wins an Olympic medal earns an automatic exemption from serving. (Same goes for Gold Medal winners at the Asian Games.)

That is why most of us can’t relate to what Kim (or An, who shot 72 the first round) is facing this week. After turning pro at 15, Kim has ascended the pro-golf ranks like few others, winning three times by the time he turned 22, and flashing his trademark smile and flair at the 2022 Presidents Cup. Reaching the podium this week would alter his status in an incalculable way, and not only because a medal is worth plenty in the endorsement and fame departments. Earning him a prize that is available just once every four years would also provide him a pass from mandatory duty that many in his country consider honorable and proper.

Dozens of countries have a conscription system but not all are enforced as strictly as South Korea’s. So strictly that it surfaces as a narrative at every Olympics.

Exemptions for South Korean athletes is not a new debate. In 2018, the soccer world fretted over the availability of Heung-Min Son as a striker for Tottenham Football Club after he’d narrowly missed out on earning an exemption during the 2014 Asian Games. When his South Korea side won Gold in the 2018 Asian Games, Son was in clear, as was the national baseball team, which also won Gold in those Games. A week later reports surfaced about internal government agencies preparing to discuss revising the exemption categories. Many South Koreas believe the bar for exemption should be higher, alleging favoritism. Many others believe that service need not be mandatory. South Korea has technically been at war with North Korea for the last 71 years. When eSports was added to the Asian Games in 2023, the notion of video-game whizzes earning a Gold Medal exemption kickstarted the discourse again. 

All of which explains, in part, why Tom Kim likely won’t speak at length about the issue this week. During an early-week press conference, Kim and An sat next to one other for a dozen easygoing questions. They shared thoughts about their time off after the Open Championship, An’s parents’ own Olympic pursuits and which events in Paris they were hoping to attend as spectators. Thirteen questions in, they were asked about their service status. 

“I think the easiest answer for us is we’re here to play good this week,” Kim said. “We are not focused on that. We are here to represent our country and I want — to be honest, I want me and Ben to be standing in that stadium not for exemption but for our country. That’s the most important part. That’s the pride of being a South Korean, we have our services and it is what it is. We are going to go throughout and we are going to play our best and I really hope he and I are standing on that podium.”

An didn’t add anything. He didn’t really need to. The fascinating golf conundrum won’t just succeed their week in France; it has preceded them, too. Sungjae Im and Si Woo Kim, who competed in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, both failed to medal that week. But then they teamed up at the 2023 Asian Games and won Gold, earning an exemption. Much of the golf world didn’t notice, partly because it came during the same week of the 2023 Ryder Cup. 

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Before Kim and Kim and Im and An came Sang-moon Bae, whose time on the PGA Tour began in 2012. Bae peaked when he won the 2014 Frys.com Open, but his career hit a snag when he was forced to enlist in the South Korean military a year later. Bae had received a delay until after the 2015 Presidents Cup, and served his time immediately after as a rifleman. When he returned to pro golf in 2017, he admitted to thinking about getting discharged the entire time. In his years on Tour since, he has missed more cuts than he’s made. Bae was ranked 85th in the world when he went home and now is ranked 552nd. It’s difficult to look at his service as anything but a disruption — difficult, at least, for many observers outside of South Korea. 

Sami Valimaki is from Finland. He’s one shot back of Kim in the Olympic event after a seven-birdie Thursday. He also served mandatory military time, at age 20, living in a forest in the bitter cold, executing rifle drills, which he explained to the Associated Press. Valimaki’s service was only six months and preceded his pro career, but it was nonetheless a life event for which he had to plan, not to mention build a golf career around.

“I heard they need to do two years, and it’s really strict,” Valimaki said Thursday, when asked about the Koreans’ situation. There was sympathy in his voice. 

“So it’s tough, especially for him now,” Valimaki continued, speaking of Kim. “He’s playing so well. For me, it was a bit easier because I kind of did it all before my pro career. So it didn’t hurt that much, and it was only six months, so it made it easier. But I would say it’s really a good thing for the Finnish country to have the military and get the boys a little bit working on the military. I think it’s good for the country.”

Differring views from different people from different places. That’s hidden within the belly of the Olympics.

After carding a five-under first round, Tom Kim currently sits T3, aka tied for bronze. (An sits solo 48th.) We’re only a quarter of the way through the tournament, but also that much closer to a different reality for Kim’s future. 

“It doesn’t worry me at all,” Kim said after play Thursday, when asked about Bae’s experience. “It’s the way our country works, and good golf takes care of everything — just because it happened to him doesn’t mean it happens to other people. You can’t say that it affected him at all. There could be different things that could have happened. I’m not really thinking about it. It’s not on my mind at all, I’m just trying to focus on my game.”

I asked Kim if it’s difficult to not think about the exemption as one of the results of medaling. 

“That’s all I have to say, guys,” Kim said before the interview turned to questions in his native tongue.