Byung-Hoon An 21st "So Close to Top 10"... Kirk "Wins"

PGA Tour Honda Classic Final Round 4

An Byeong-hun failed to make the ‘Top 10’ due to a lack of finishing power.

Ahn Byung-hoon is teeing off at the 2nd hole of the final 4th round of the Honda Classic.
[Palm Beach Gardens (USA) = AP·Yonhap News]

On the 27th (Korean time), An Byeong-hun finished tied for 21st place (5-under 275) after struggling with a 3-over par in the final 4th round of the PGA Tour Honda Classic (total prize money $8.4 million) held at the PGA National Champion Course (par 70, 7,125 yards) in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA. He missed his second Top 10 finish of the 2022/2023 season since tying for 4th at the season-opening Fortinet Championship last September.

An started the day tied for 6th, 5 strokes behind the leader, but recorded 3 birdies and 6 bogeys. He gained momentum with consecutive birdies on holes 3 and 4 but was hampered by three straight bogeys from holes 5 to 7. In the back nine, he seemed to turn things around at the 10th hole (par 4), but consecutive bogeys on holes 12 and 13 caused him to collapse. On the final 18th hole (par 5), he made a bogey after his second shot landed in the water. His fairway hit rate was 64.29%, and his greens in regulation stood at 61.11%. His scrambling ability, which allows a par or better even when failing to hit the green in regulation, was only 14.29%.

Chris Kirk added 1-under par to tie with Eric Cole (both from the USA) at 14-under 266, then secured the victory with a winning birdie on the first hole of the playoff at the 18th hole. This marked his 5th career win, his first in 7 years and 9 months since winning the Crown Plaza Invitational in May 2015. The winner’s prize money was $1,512,000 (approximately 1.98 billion KRW). Justin Suh (USA) finished tied for 5th (9-under 271), and Minwoo Lee (Australia) tied for 26th (4-under 276).

For Korea, 2020 champion Im Sung-jae recorded 3 birdies, 1 bogey, and 1 double bogey but failed to lower his score, finishing tied for 42nd (2-under 278). Rookie Kim Seong-hyun lost 1 stroke and ended the tournament tied for 63rd (2-over 282).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.