Rio Olympics 2016: South Korean Women's Golf Coach Keeps the Pressure Off Players
South Korean golf coach in the women's division, Pak Se-Ri said that the key to success of her team is to keep the pressure off among the four players.
Pak, a five-time Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) champion and a Hall of Famer in World Golf arrived in Rio on Thursday. The women's competition in the golf division will start next Wednesday.
The golf coach revealed on her interview at Galeao International Airport that her goal is still the same, "a podium sweep".
"The objective is obviously to win gold, silver and bronze, but I think making sure the players won't feel too much pressure should come first. Golf is back in the Olympics after a long time away, and fans back home love women's golf. We all want to do the best we can," Pak said.
After 112 years, it is the first time that golf will be contested in the Olympics. South Korea will field 4 of their top 10's world female players namely: Park In-bee (rank 5), Kim Sei-young (rank 6), Chun In-gee (rank 8) and Amy Yang (rank 9).
Pak said that as a coach, she wants to give all the support to her players and she feels a huge weight of responsibility for the team.
The coach mentioned that she was supposed to visit the Rio Olympic Golf Course last April or May but the trip was cancelled because the venue is still not available. However, the men's golf competition got underway Thursday. She said that she was planning to visit the course for the first time during the first round of men's golf competition.
"The key will be to control shots in the windy conditions. Away from the course, security and living conditions will also be important," Pak added.
The two major contenders in the golf competition are Lydia Ko of New Zealand and Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand. They are the top two ranked players who have each won 4 times in 2016.
