SAMMAMISH, Wash. -- As if playing for a major title this week wasn't enough, some players at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club will also have something else on their minds. The deadline to secure a berth in the Olympic golf competition is July 11. What was a marathon pursuit is now more of a sprint.
The situation is most acute for a cadre of South Koreans, seven of whom are in the top 15 in the Rolex Rankings, with three others among the top 25. A maximum of four top-15 golfers from a country can qualify -- there is a limit of two players for those outside the top 15 -- which ensures that a number of the world's best women golfers won't be among the 60 players competing in Rio in August.
"It shows how great those players are playing week in, week out," said world No. 1 Lydia Ko, who was born in South Korea but will represent New Zealand, where she has lived since she was a young girl. "It's really cool to see, but I'm kind of glad I'm not amongst that."
Hard work has underpinned the surge of South Korean excellence in women's golf since the late-1990s and is one of the reasons the rankings are overflowing with South Korean players. Inbee Park (No. 2), Sei Young Kim (5), In Gee Chun (6) and Ha Na Jang (8) would comprise the Republic of Korea team as of the June 6 list, with Amy Yang (9), So Yeon Ryu (11) and Hyo Joo Kim (14) on the outside looking in despite their credentials.
Complicating the Olympic jockeying is Park's injured left thumb, which she has said could potentially sideline her for six months. Park is playing this week and seeking an unprecedented fourth straight victory in the championship, and she will qualify for the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame by completing one round. Her thumb is not as painful as it was two weeks ago, when she shot an 84 and withdrew from the Volvik LPGA Championship, but Park is still not close to 100 percent.
"Right now, I definitely think I have a chance to play [in the Olympics]," Park said Wednesday, adding that she will decide by early next month whether to take herself out of consideration for the Games.
"I'm playing for the country, not for myself," Park said. "If I'm not at my full condition, I kind of feel like I need to give a chance to somebody else who can perform so much better than me at the moment."
The prospect of Olympic glory has amped up the anticipation in South Korea, where women's golf is covered intensely -- from the home circuit (KLPGA), where players learn how to win, to the LPGA, where Koreans have enjoyed so much success the past two decades.
"Korea is really hot for the Olympics," said Japanese golf journalist Reiko Takekawa of Kyodo News, who has covered women's golf for 20 years. "It's big for Japan, but really big in Korea. There is a huge expectation to at least get a medal, preferably gold. A Korean is going to be a real hero if she wins. And I think they are feeling the pressure big-time."
Elite women golfers are like rock stars in South Korea, many with their own fan bases. "It's intense," said Karen Stupples, a Golf Channel analyst and former major champion. "It seems like every waking moment they have been getting asked about the Olympics back home. That's the pressure they face, not only to get there, but to succeed when they do. It's huge."
The pressure surrounding Olympic qualifying contributed to a messy chapter on tour earlier this year involving Jang and Chun. Arriving in Singapore for the HSBC Women's Champions, Jang's father, Chang Ho, lost his grip on a piece of luggage on an airport escalator. The bag tumbled down and struck Chun in the lower back. Chun's injury forced the 2015 U.S. Women's Open champion to miss three tournaments, including the HSBC, which Jang won for her second victory of the season.
Jang punctuated her HSBC triumph with an enthusiastic dance on the 18th green, a celebration judged excessive by some Korean media outlets that previously had made a big deal out of the airport accident and subsequent apologies -- whether Chang Ho Jang was contrite enough. By mid-April, at the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic in San Francisco, Jang was physically ill and had to pull out of the event during the first round.
Returning home to South Korea, Jang was hospitalized for about a week and diagnosed with anemia. In an interview Wednesday at Sahalee after a practice round, she said he had also suffered from headaches and had been sleeping only two to three hours a night.
"Maybe a little bit of stress," Jang said.
She didn't play golf for five weeks and, although her health has improved, she said that she had to convince her father to let her compete this week.
"My dad wanted me to relax more; he didn't want me to play this week, but I wanted to play," Jang said. "The LPGA Tour is my job."
"She's fine right now, but it was scary," said Rambert Sim, a family friend and advisor. "She is not in perfect condition, but she is getting better and better every day."
Chun approached Jang earlier this week, inquiring about her health.
"I saw Ha Na on the practice green on Sunday and gave her my best wishes," Chun said Wednesday through Won Park, her coach and interpreter.
The golf soap opera takes another turn Thursday, when Jang and Chun tee off in the same grouping, along with Melissa Reid of England.
"I knew it was coming," Chun said of playing with Jang for the first time since the unfortunate escalator trip in Singapore. "I didn't know it was going to be this tournament or later, but am glad it's this time. The sooner the better. It's a tough situation, but I have to face it and Ha Na has to face it. It's good to get it over with."
In just two months, after all, they could be Olympic teammates.