Most players leave a Presidents Cup looking for a good week’s break. But 4-time PGA Tour champion Tom Kim left Medinah with a gold medal to chase. Within three days of his final singles match, he was on the tee in Japan, running on barely any sleep and playing for something no PGA Tour can probably give him: an exemption from South Korea’s mandatory military service. Two rounds into the Asian Games, he is leaving no stone unturned.

At Kasugai Country Club East in Aichi-Nagoya, Kim shot 66 to reach 7-under, two shots behind co-leaders Wang Weihou and Ding Wenyi. While he firmly remains in contention, Kim still has two rounds to compete before he can get an exemption. Speaking after the round, he said, “A gold would be great,” but stressed that he wants to do well for his country.

For context, South Korea’s conscription system requires 18–21 months of service for most males before age 35, maintained due to North Korea’s border. Athletic exemptions began in 1973 and were updated in 1990. For Kim, that means returning before he turns 35. Moreover, the country keeps the system because North Korea faces a heavily guarded border.

Naturally, it isn’t a yearly chance. The exemption only opens when the Olympics or the Asian Games take place, which is around every four years. And that’s what makes this week close to a one-off for Kim, who’s currently 24.

As for his performance in round one, he started strong by birdieing the second hole, then another on nine to turn in 34 on the front nine. On the back nine, he added another birdie on the par-5 13, with an ace-level tee shot on the par-3 15 that left him a two. He then followed that with a birdie on 16. Bogeys on the par-3 seventh and 17th were the only damage to his round, but he saved par at the last. Overall, he finished two off the lead with a 3-under 67.

The second round tested his patience as much as skill. Kim’s final group took five hours and 20 minutes with slow play by lift, clean and place conditions, and finished past sunset. Organizers had to bring in temporary floodlights so the trio could putt on the 18th. And yet he kept his focus. He birdied the second and the eighth, then went on to run that mattered, with birdies on the 10th and 13th. He added another one on the 16th to cover the back nine in 32. His only mistake in the round was a bogey at the sixth. Overall, he tapped in for a par finish.

Notably, Tom Kim has been in this situation before. He did not play at the 2023 Asian Games, and his last chance was at the 2024 Paris Olympics. That’s where a medal of any color would have easily exempted him. But it ended in vain. He started the final round four shots off gold, in position three for bronze, but missed a par putt on the 11th and found the water off the 18th to make a double bogey. He ended up finishing eighth. He could be seen wiping his tears in the scoring area, later saying, “Never been really emotional after a round,” insisting the exemption wasn’t the reason.

For now, two rounds still remain, and he is two shots off the individual lead while South Korea is chasing Japan in the team race.

Other Players Took the Same Route

Kim isn’t the first South Korean golfer to chase this exemption. Sungjae Im and Si Woo Kim played the 2023 Asian Games team event with two amateurs and won gold by 24 shots, earning exemptions. Both were also playing the Presidents Cup this year.

But other golfers haven’t been able to. Sang-moon Bae went from the Presidents Cup in 2015 to the military. He had won twice on the PGA Tour but lost a court battle to avoid service. He served from 2015 to 2017. He has since slipped outside the world top 550. Bae later said he forgot how to play golf eventually.

But for now, Kim is on his way to possibly avoiding the military.