Byeong-Hun An Runner-up... 'So Close, Lost in Playoff'

Missed Short Putt Leads to Sudden-Death Loss at Sony Open
Bradley Ties for 2nd, Kirk Ties for 18th
Lee Kyung-hoon and Kim Sung-hyun Tied for 30th, Kim Si-woo 42nd

An Byeong-hun failed to overcome the final hurdle.

Ahn Byung-hoon is teeing off at the 5th hole of the 4th round of the Sony Open. [Honolulu=AFP·Yonhap News]

On the 14th (local time) at the Waialae Country Club (par 70, 7,044 yards) in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, in the final 4th round of the PGA Tour Sony Open (total prize money $8.3 million), An shot 6 under par to tie with Grayson Murray and Keegan Bradley (both from the USA) at 17 under par 263. However, he was defeated in the first hole of the playoff resumed at the 18th hole (par 5). After debuting on the PGA Tour in 2016, he failed to secure his first win in his 182nd tournament over 8 years.

An Byeong-hun started from a tie for 4th place, 3 strokes behind, recording 1 eagle, 6 birdies, and 2 bogeys. He had a shaky start with 1 birdie and 2 bogeys in the first 5 holes. He changed the momentum with a birdie on the 6th hole, followed by birdies on the 8th hole (both par 4) and an eagle on the 9th hole (par 5), re-entering the race for the title. In the back nine, he showed resilience by birdies on the 11th and 14th holes and reduced his score again on the 18th hole, pushing the match into a playoff. In the playoff, he had a short birdie putt opportunity but unfortunately missed it.

An Byeong-hun is the player who caused a stir by winning the 2015 DP World Tour major tournament BMW PGA Championship. He is well-known as the son of the table tennis couple An Jae-hyung and Jiao Zhimin. He moved to the PGA Tour 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, losing his tour card.

In the 2021/2022 season, An ranked 13th in the Korn Ferry Tour ranking points and returned to the regular tour last season, participating in 31 tournaments and finishing in the top 10 four times, including runner-up at the Wyndham Championship. Although An received a 3-month suspension last October after testing positive in a doping test due to taking cough medicine in Korea, he demonstrated his resilience by finishing 4th in last week's season opener, The Sentry, and now as runner-up.

Murray secured his second career win since his victory at the Barbasol Championship in July 2017. The winner's prize money is $1,494,000 (approximately 2 billion KRW). Chris Kirk (USA), the winner of The Sentry, finished tied for 18th (11 under par 269). In Korea, Lee Kyung-hoon added 2 under par to finish tied for 30th (9 under par 271). Kim Seong-hyun failed to reduce his score and dropped to this group. Defending champion Kim Si-woo finished the tournament tied for 42nd (8 under par 272) with 3 under par.

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