The three Rio medallists, Park In-bee, Lydia Ko and Feng Shanshan will tee off together in a signature group when the Olympic women's golf tournament begins at Kasumigaseki Country Club on Wednesday.
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Unlike the men's event, where none of the Rio medallists qualified, the entire 2016 women's podium are back for another crack at Games glory.
World No 1 and recent Women's PGA Championship winner, Nelly Korda, second-ranked Ko Jin-young of South Korea and Japan's top player Nasa Hataoka form another eye-catching three-ball for the first two rounds.
An elite field of 60 players containing all of the world's top 10 will battle over the same course that saw pulsating drama in the men's final round on Sunday, culminating in an astonishing seven-way playoff for bronze.
The 33-year-old Park struck gold for South Korea in Rio 2016 when golf returned after a 112-year absence and she recalled how she almost buckled under the intense pressure of representing her golf-crazy nation while battling a thumb injury.
"I mean, 2016 was far most pressure-filled I've ever felt in my life. I don't know if I could do that again," she said, determined to be more relaxed as she goes for a second gold.
"If I felt it again this year, I don't think I would be able to play," said the seven-time major winner.
Heat and sunshine have replaced the incessant rain and thunder of last week over the weekend, meaning different conditions for the women when they tee off for 72 holes of strokeplay.
"I went out there yesterday and the course was actually a lot firmer than I thought and a lot longer," said Park.
MCILROY IS 'MY IDOL'
Japan's Mone Inami will have the honour of striking the first tee shot at her home Olympics on Wednesday at 7:30 am.
She said Hideki Matsuyama had contacted her and teammate Hataoka, despite the Masters champion missing out on a medal in agonising fashion in the playoff for bronze on Sunday.
"He mentioned that because he couldn't win the medal on the guys' side, he sent me a good luck message on the girls' side," said Inami.
Hataoka said she had practised last week with Matsuyama.
"We didn't talk about anything too extensive, but at the same time I got to observe him so it was a great learning experience."
The field contains all of this year's major winners, Patty Tavatanakit of Thailand, Yuka Saso of the Philippines, Minjee Lee of Australia and Korda.
Saso, who became the first Filipino golfer to win a major at the women's US Open, has a Japanese father. She arrived early in his homeland and has been practising at the course for nearly a week already.
She models her swing on her hero Rory McIlroy and took the opportunity to watch him play in the men's event. The pair have clearly formed a bond since her breakthrough major victory.
"Obviously he's a very nice guy," the 20-year-old Saso, who won Asian Games gold in 2018, told AFP.
"He's my idol and he's given me some advice. I feel very lucky him saying 'Hi' to me or greeting me in any way so I'll treasure it and hopefully get to talk to him more."
McIlroy enjoyed having the US Women's Open champion rooting for him.
"It's just really cool that I've been able to inspire someone to go on and achieve one of the biggest things in their game, which is win a major championship," said the four-time major winner and former world No 1.
Saso, ranked ninth, goes out in another high-class grouping with the world No 8 Brooke Henderson of Canada and 12th-ranked American Lexi Thompson.