LIV Golf Debutant An Byeonghun Says, "I Will Achieve My Best Results"

An Byeonghun is making his debut on the LIV Golf tour.

From February 4 for four days, he will compete in the LIV Golf 2026 season-opening Riyadh tournament (total prize money of 30 million dollars), held at Riyadh Golf Club in Saudi Arabia (par 72, 7,464 yards). LIV Golf, which had been played as a 3-round, 54-hole event through last year, will now be contested over 4 rounds and 72 holes. All rounds will be night rounds, with tee times set for 6:15 p.m. local time.

An Byeonghun is one of the leading figures representing Korean men's golf. He is well known as the son of table tennis stars Ahn Jaehyung of Korea and Jiao Zhimin of China. On the U.S. PGA Tour, he has played in 229 tournaments and finished runner-up five times. He has earned a total of 21,535,424 dollars in prize money (about 31.2 billion won). After finishing the 2025 season, he received an offer from LIV Golf and made a sudden decision to switch his primary stage. He has taken on the role of captain of the Korean Golf Club, which consists of Song Younghan, Kim Minkyu, and Danny Lee of New Zealand.

An Byeonghun is speaking about his ambitions as he steps onto a new stage at an official press conference ahead of the LIV Golf season-opening Riyadh tournament. Provided by LIV Golf

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At the official LIV Golf Riyadh press conference held ahead of the tournament, he said, "The most difficult part this season will be the travel and adjusting to time differences," adding, "To maintain good performance, it will be important to manage my body well." He continued, "LIV Golf requires traveling to many different countries, but I like traveling," and added, "I gained a lot of experience in my younger days playing on the DP World Tour and the Challenge Tour, so I'm used to it. I think I will be able to fully enjoy it," expressing confidence.

He has completed all his preparations. "I have drawn up a conditioning management plan using artificial intelligence (AI)," he said. "In particular, I have gotten my body into peak shape for this tournament. I plan to continue making active use of AI in the future," he revealed. Regarding competing in a new environment alongside new players, An said, "I have known my teammates for a long time, so I feel comfortable." He added, "You can look forward to some great golf," and said, "The biggest attraction of the Saudi Arabia tournament is the night golf."

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