Pro’s Olympics ends in ‘surprising’ tears, but not for reason you might think

In the span of four holes Sunday in Paris, Jon Rahm went from leading the Olympics Men’s Golf competition by four to being off the podium. He capped his final round by three-putting the 72nd hole to finish four back at 15 under. Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee called it “one of the biggest collapse-chokes of the year.”

Xander Schauffele also was in the medal hunt. Until the middle of Schauffele’s front nine Sunday, the week looked like it was going to be a continuation of his torrid summer that has already brought him two major titles. But he finished seven shots back after going four over in four holes on the second nine.

And then there was Rory McIlroy, who made a charge at redeeming his U.S. Open heartbreak from two months ago. He was on a run of five straight birdies when his second shot at the short 15th hole found the water. Game over.

Three titans of the sport, multi-major winners, all came up short in Paris in dramatic fashion. All three had something to prove to themselves: Rahm, that he still could compete in the biggest events after leaving the PGA Tour; Schauffele, that after his double-major summer he was golf’s new alpha dog; and McIlroy, that he could quickly bounce back from Pinehurst.

But those scenarios all feel inconsequential compared to what Tom Kim was playing for this week.

When his final putt fell on Sunday, Kim was wearing his emotions on his sleeve. After playing with his good friend Scottie Scheffler, who put together a brilliant final-round 62 to capture the gold medal, Kim wiped tears in the scoring area. He said that was a first for him.

“Never been really emotional after a round,” Kim said after finishing 8th. “I think these emotions are surprising but I think it’s just all the hard work I’ve done this year to put myself in this position, those things are coming out.”

Kim, playing in his first Olympics for his native South Korea along with Ben An, was playing for more than just a medal this week. As is the case with the rest of able-bodied males over the age of 19 in South Korea, both Kim, who is 22, and An, 32, must return to the country before they turn 35 to serve in the military for a stint of 18 to 21 months.

But there’s a caveat. Korean golfers can earn an exemption from military service by either winning a gold medal in the Asian Games or any medal in the Olympics.

Lost in the shuffle of last year’s Ryder Cup was Sungjae Im and Si Woo Kim teaming to win gold at the Asian Games to earn exemptions. But the next Asian Games aren’t until 2026 and Kim said there’s talk of it going back to an amateur-only competition.

Korean Sangmoon Bae won twice on the PGA Tour in 2013 and 2014 before losing a court battle to exempt himself from mandatory service and ultimately serving for two years from 2015 to 2017. He wasn’t the same after that. He peaked inside the top 30 of the Official World Golf Ranking in 2011 but is now outside the top 550.

Other Korean players, like K.J. Choi and Y.E. Yang, turned pro after their service. That wasn’t an option for Kim, who turned pro at 15. An, meanwhile, has much less time to find an exemption as he’s already delayed his service.

Kim, a rising PGA Tour star who already has three PGA Tour wins and two major top-10s, gave himself a shot to put the requirement away this week when he was just four back of gold medal position and three back of bronze to start Sunday.

But all week, he had been downplaying the weight of the impending service.

“I think the easiest answer for us is here we’re to play good this week,” he said Monday. “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.”

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On Sunday, he opened up that his struggles early in the season (he had no top-10s before June), which put his Olympic bid in jeopardy, weighed heavily on him. The qualifying cutoff happened after the U.S. Open and Kim made the field. He promptly put together his best start of the year the next week, losing in a playoff at the Travelers Championship.

He said the past two weeks preparing for this event were “brutal.”

“Then once the round finishes, everything is done and done,” he said. “I think the emotions that I’ve held in this year are coming out.”

Kim made his run in the final round with four birdies on the front nine. He was one ahead of Scheffler as they made the turn. Then he knocked it to 14 feet at the par-3 11th. That would have gotten him to 15 under, within spitting distance of the faltering leaders behind him.

He raced his birdie try four feet by, and his par putt didn’t even touch the hole.

Kim brought himself back into bronze contention with two birdies, but a water ball off the 18th tee ended his podium hopes for good. He made double and looked dejected as he congratulated his friend on his victory.

Kim’s emotions were all coming out, but he said it had nothing to do with his would-be military exemption.

“I wasn’t really thinking about that at all,” he said. “Just try and make a medal for my country and not myself.”

Scheffler offered some words to his friend on the 18th green. The two live near each other in Dallas and share a birthday.

“Just the things Scottie said to me after the round really kind of came out and I’m just trying to hold it together,” Kim said. “It is more a private conversation. So just grateful for the friendship.

“He’s a really good buddy of mine. We are probably going to play some golf again next week. He understands what I’ve gone through. Just those things and a friend to say something like that after what he did, it means a lot.”