Japan’s best hope for a gold medal in this week’s Olympic women’s golf competition? That would be a player who competed for a different country just three years ago.

Yuka Saso, who tied for ninth in Tokyo while representing the Philippines, is now carrying the Japanese flag at Le Golf National in Paris. The 23-year-old Saso was born in the Philippines to a Filipino mother and Japanese father. She switched nationalities shortly after the Tokyo Games because of passport reasons; her Japanese passport allows her visa-free entry to 192 countries.

“Nothing much different. But obviously playing in Tokyo, I was there to help my mother's country and now my dad's country,” Saso said Tuesday at Le Golf National. “Not a lot of people can experience this, what I'm experiencing right now. So, I'm really grateful and very excited to be part of it again.”

Saso’s nationality change meant, however, that qualifying for Paris would be much tougher with four Japanese players vying for Olympic berths down the stretch. Ultimately, Saso, with a huge boost from her second U.S. Women’s Open title in June, qualified along with Miyu Yamashita. Ayaka Furue is currently the top-ranked Japanese player, at No. 8 in the Rolex Rankings (two spots ahead of Saso), but she didn’t jump until after winning the Evian Championship a few weeks ago, well after qualifying concluded. Nasa Hataoka is the other Japanese player currently ranked in the top 30.

“It was very challenging for me to secure this second spot … but my people really cheer for me to play my best,” Yamashita said. “So, I was able to focus on what's in front of me and play shot by shot, and then here I am playing for Team Japan, so I'm so grateful.”

Japan's Mone Inami won silver on the women's side in Tokyo. Hideki Matsuyama won bronze on Sunday in the men's competition in Paris.