What’s worth more to a top American female, a gold medal or a major? Perhaps Tokyo will tell us.

What’s more valuable to an American female golfer: a major victory or a gold medal?

It’s a question that brings about more questions than answers given that an American woman has yet to medal at the Olympic Games. This week in Tokyo, three of the four players representing Team USA are major winners, with World No. 1 Nelly Korda claiming her first in June at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. Lexi Thompson and Danielle Kang have one major title apiece. Jessica Korda still awaits her first.

“I would’ve loved to have been able to compete for a gold medal,” said LPGA Hall of Famer Juli Inkster, who won seven majors. “You can win majors, a lot of people have majors, but very few people have gold medals. To have one of those, it’s something really special. That’s something that you can pass onto your kids and your grandkids. I think it’s an amazing thing.”

Inbee Park, another seven-time major winner, has said on numerous occasions that her notoriety in South Korea went to another level after she won gold in 2016. When Park was vying for her fourth major in a row in 2013, former LPGA commissioner Mike Whan said the TV rating in South Korea was about an 8, which is similar to when Tiger Woods won the Masters in 2019. When Park won the Olympics in 2016, the TV rating in South Korea was a whopping 27.1.

“What I’ve experienced after the Olympics,” said Park, “was that so many people recognize me that never recognized me before, even though I’ve won seven major championships, but they recognize me now because I won one Olympic gold medal.”

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With Olympic golf being televised on Golf Channel in the U.S., it will take NBC and its affiliate channels to break through with golf coverage to give an American in contention a much-deserved boost among non-golf fans. She’d likely make an appearance on NBC’s Today and be talked about in the same breath as other American gold-medal winners – both male and female.

“I think we’re at the point that even winning a major is growing the game,” said Nelly Korda, “playing just a regular tournament is growing the game, but there’s nothing like the Olympics.”

Nelly went on to note that only the females in the Korda household will be Olympians.

The Kordas’ mother, Regina, represented Czechoslovakia in tennis at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.

The Korda family is, of course, on fire this year, with younger brother Sebastian soaring up the tennis rankings and making a name for himself in Grand Slam events. The sisters, between them, have four LPGA titles this season. Before heading to Tokyo, they spent time visiting family in Prague as a way to refresh after the Amundi Evian Championship in France.

A Korda victory in Tokyo could get more exposure than Nelly’s recent victory at the KPMG given that it would fold into the greater energy surrounding the Olympic Games.

Yuka Saso found out that her face will be put on a stamp in the Philippines after her recent triumph at the U.S. Women’s Open at The Olympic Club. Imagine what they’ll do if she wins gold.

Junior golf in China exploded after Shanshan Feng won the bronze medal in Rio.

How would reactions around the world compare to here in the U.S.?

Nicole LaVoi, director of The Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport at the University of Minnesota, said that around 5 ½ percent of all sport media coverage goes to female athletes, which is actually down from an all-time high of around 10 percent in 1999. In an Olympic year, she said, that number rises to the range of 30 to 40 percent.

Inkster believes that an American player would receive more notoriety for a medal than a major.

“I think the whole world is watching the Olympics,” she said. “I don’t think the whole world watches the LPGA. I wish they would.”

Kang, like many other LPGA players, dreamed of being an Olympian long before golf returned to the Games. She panicked when qualifying was extended an extra 15 months.

When asked where a gold medal might rank, Kang recently said on Golf Today that she cried when the Olympics got delayed, and cried again when qualifying was pushed back.

“I just keep crying every time there’s an opportunity for me to go to the Olympics,” she said. “I don’t really cry when there’s a major championship up ahead.

“Inbee park, one of my best friends, has told me that there’s nothing like it.”

Only she would know.