Byeonghun An, 9 Birdies Only... "Did You See the Course Record Tie?"

Genesis Scotty Open 1R: 2-Shot Lead
Riley 2nd, McIlroy 3rd, Lee Kyung-hoon 5th
Kim Joo-hyung 7th, Scheffler 26th, Kim Sung-hyun 46th

Byeonghun An is on a winning streak.

On the 13th (local time), at The Renaissance Club (par 70, 7,237 yards) in North Berwick, Scotland, he fired a course record-tying 9-under 61 in the first round of the Genesis Scottish Open (total prize money $9 million), a co-hosted event by the PGA Tour and DP World Tour (formerly European Tour), taking the top spot on the leaderboard. Davis Riley (USA) is in second place at 7-under 63, while Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) and Thomas Detry (Belgium) are tied for third at 6-under 64.

Byung-Hoon An surged with a 9-under-par in the first round of the Genesis Scotiabank Open, taking the top spot on the leaderboard.
[Photo by DP World Tour]

An made nine birdies without a single bogey. He started with a birdie on the 10th hole (par 5) and then made four consecutive birdies from the 13th to the 16th holes, reducing five strokes in the front nine. In the back nine, he added birdies on the 2nd and 3rd holes consecutively, as well as on the 5th and 9th holes. His powerful drives, reaching up to 355 yards, and 23 putts fueled his performance. An rose to a two-stroke lead, seizing his first PGA Tour victory opportunity. He exclaimed, "It feels like coming home. It was so good," adding, "Playing frequently on links courses in Europe really helped."

Byeonghun An is the player who caused a stir by winning the 2015 DP World Tour major, the BMW PGA Championship. He is well-known as the son of the table tennis couple Jae-hyung An and Zhaozimin. He moved to the PGA Tour starting from the 2016/2017 season and maintained steady results until the 2019/2020 season. However, in the 2020/2021 season, he participated in 29 tournaments but missed the cut in 15 events, losing his tour card.

An finished 13th in the Korn Ferry Tour ranking points last season and returned to the regular tour this year. He has played in 26 tournaments this season, finishing in the top 10 twice. His personal best is a tie for 4th place at the Fortinet Championship last September. It is encouraging that he has laid the groundwork for a comeback at a time when he missed the cut twice in the last three tournaments.

World No. 3 McIlroy recorded one eagle and six birdies (with two bogeys). He showed peak form ahead of next week's final major of the season, The Open. Kyung-hoon Lee also made five birdies without a bogey, tying for 5th place at 5-under 65. Juhyung Kim is tied for 7th at 4-under 66, while Ricky Fowler and Sam Burns (both USA) started comfortably, tied for 15th at 3-under 67.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (USA) is tied for 26th at 2-under 68. Sung Hyun Kim is tied for 46th at 1-under 69, while Sungjae Im, Bae Sang-moon, and defending champion Xander Schauffele (USA) are tied for 74th at even par 70. Youngsoo Kim is tied for 151st at 5-over 75, and Yoseop Seo is 154th at 6-over 76, facing a tough path.

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