An Byeong-hun
Personal information
Full nameAn Byeong-hun
NicknameBen
Born (1991-09-17) 17 September 1991 (age 32)
Seoul, South Korea
Height1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight95.0 kg (209.4 lb; 14.96 st)
Sporting nationality South Korea
ResidenceOrlando, Florida
Career
CollegeUniversity of California, Berkeley
Turned professional2011
Current tour(s)PGA Tour
Former tour(s)Challenge Tour
European Tour
Korn Ferry Tour
Professional wins4
Highest ranking24 (7 February 2016)[1]
Number of wins by tour
European Tour1
Korn Ferry Tour1
Challenge Tour1
Other1
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT33: 2017
PGA ChampionshipT22: 2020
U.S. OpenT16: 2019
The Open ChampionshipT23: 2023
Achievements and awards
Sir Henry Cotton
Rookie of the Year		2015
European Tour
Graduate of the Year		2015

An Byeong-hun (Korean: 안병훈; born 17 September 1991), also known as Byeong-Hun An or Ben An, is a professional golfer from Seoul, South Korea. In August 2009, he became the youngest-ever winner of the U.S. Amateur.

Amateur career

Born in Seoul, South Korea, An is the son of South Korean Ahn Jae-Hyung and Chinese Jiao Zhimin, both of whom were medalists in table tennis at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.[2]

An moved to the United States in December 2005 to attend the David Leadbetter Golf Academy in Bradenton, Florida, where he was also known as Ben An.[3]

In August 2009, at age 17, An became the youngest-ever winner of the U.S. Amateur when he defeated Ben Martin 7 & 5 in the 36-hole final at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma.[4] He made his PGA Tour debut in March 2010 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, two weeks before playing in The Masters.[3] An made the cut at the 2010 Verizon Heritage and was one shot off the lead during the second round before finishing the tournament T-59.[5]

At the 2010 U.S. Amateur, An became the first defending champion to advance to the semifinals since Tiger Woods in 1996.[6] After An took a 3-up lead after nine holes in his semifinal match, his opponent David Chung rallied to defeat An 1-up.[7]

Professional career

An turned professional in 2011 and earned a spot on the Challenge Tour via three stages of qualifying school.[8]

In June 2013, An had his best finish to date on the Challenge Tour, tied for second place at the Scottish Hydro Challenge.[9] In August 2014, he won his first Challenge Tour event at the Rolex Trophy, making An the first Korean to win on the Challenge Tour.[10] He finished 2014 in third place in the Challenge Tour Rankings, and moved up to the European Tour.

In May 2015, he won the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. He was only the second player to win both the U.S. Amateur and the British PGA Championship, after Arnold Palmer.

In 2016, An played the Zurich Classic of New Orleans on an exemption, and lost a playoff at the first hole. In 2016, he earned enough money as a non-member to gain a PGA Tour card for 2016–17.

In December 2019, An played on the International team at the 2019 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia. The U.S. team won 16–14. An went 1–2–2 and lost his Sunday singles match against Webb Simpson.[11]

An has been suspended from the PGA Tour for three months in 2023 (August 31 – December 1) for violating the tour's anti-doping policy. He tested positive for a substance banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency that was included in an over-the-counter cough medicine in South Korea.[12]

Amateur wins

Professional wins (4)

European Tour wins (1)

Legend
Flagship events (1)
Other European Tour (0)
No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory 		Runners-up
1 24 May 2015 BMW PGA Championship 71-64-67-65=267 −21 6 strokes Thailand Thongchai Jaidee, Spain Miguel Ángel Jiménez

Korn Ferry Tour wins (1)

No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory 		Runners-up
1 20 Feb 2022 LECOM Suncoast Classic 65-66-67-69=267 −17 1 stroke South Africa M. J. Daffue, United States Ben Griffin,
United States Scott Harrington, South Korea Kim Seong-hyeon

Challenge Tour wins (1)

No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory 		Runner-up
1 24 Aug 2014 Rolex Trophy 63-69-73-64=269 −19 3 strokes France Benjamin Hébert

Korean Tour wins (1)

No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory 		Runner-up
1 20 Sep 2015 Shinhan Donghae Open 66-73-66-67=272 −12 1 stroke South Korea Noh Seung-yul

Playoff record

PGA Tour playoff record (0–3)

No. Year Tournament Opponents Result
1 2016 Zurich Classic of New Orleans United States Jamie Lovemark, United States Brian Stuard Stuard won with birdie on second extra hole
An eliminated by par on first hole
2 2018 Memorial Tournament United States Bryson DeChambeau, United States Kyle Stanley DeChambeau won with birdie on second extra hole
Stanley eliminated by par on first hole
3 2024 Sony Open in Hawaii United States Keegan Bradley, United States Grayson Murray Murray won with birdie on first extra hole

Results in major championships

Results not in chronological order in 2020.

Tournament 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Masters Tournament CUT CUT T33
U.S. Open CUT CUT T23 CUT 67
The Open Championship CUT T26 CUT T59 CUT T51
PGA Championship CUT CUT T28 T56
Tournament 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Masters Tournament CUT
PGA Championship CUT T22 T49
U.S. Open T16 CUT
The Open Championship T32 NT T26 T23
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
NT = No tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

Summary

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1
PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 0 1 7 4
U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 0 2 7 3
The Open Championship 0 0 0 0 0 1 9 6
Totals 0 0 0 0 0 4 27 14

Results in The Players Championship

Tournament 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
The Players Championship CUT T30 T26 C CUT T35
  Did not play

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
C = Cancelled after the first round due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Results in World Golf Championships

Tournament 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Championship T52 T48 T45 T29
Match Play T9 T58 T40 NT1
Invitational T57 T49 T57 T12
Champions T19 T63 T41 T14 NT1

1Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic

  Top 10
  Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
NT = No tournament
"T" = Tied

Team appearances

Professional

See also

References

  1. ^ "Week 6 2016 Ending 7 Feb 2016" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  2. ^ Seung-woo, Kang (31 August 2009). "An Becomes Youngest U.S. Amateur Champ". The Korea Times.
  3. ^ a b Evans, Farrell (24 March 2010). "Questions for ... Byeong-Hun An". Golf.com. Archived from the original on 27 May 2010.
  4. ^ Latzke, Jeff (30 August 2009). "US Amateur Champ Is Youngest Ever - Again - at 17". Dallas Morning News. Associated Press.
  5. ^ Iacobelli, Pete (17 April 2010). "Furyk tops packed Harbour Town leaderboard". NBC Sports. Archived from the original on 20 June 2010. Retrieved 24 August 2010.
  6. ^ Herrington, Ryan (27 August 2010). "Uihlein Wins Cowboy Quarterfinal Shootout". Golf Digest.
  7. ^ "Byeong-Hun An Loses at U.S. Amateur". ESPN. 28 August 2010. Archived from the original on 30 August 2010.
  8. ^ "Former U.S. Am champ joins Chandler's ISM group". Golfweek. 18 January 2012.
  9. ^ "2013 Scottish Hydro Challenge – Leaderboard". PGA European Tour. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
  10. ^ "An claims Rolex glory in Geneva". PGA European Tour. 24 August 2013.
  11. ^ Dusek, David (15 December 2019). "Presidents Cup grades: Captains, Royal Melbourne score high marks". Golfweek.
  12. ^ Schlabach, Mark (11 October 2023). "PGA Tour suspends Byeong Hun An for banned substance". ESPN. Retrieved 12 October 2023.

External links

U.S. Amateur champions
Sir Henry Cotton Rookies of the Year
BMW PGA Championship champions
International Presidents Cup team – 2019
Categories