Byeong Hun

An

The Korean split 8-of-13 fairways and landed 14 greens in regulation. He gained more than four strokes over the field in the off-the-tee and approach categories combined. It was an all-around effort, though, as he gained more than four strokes with his short game as well. “I hit a lot of shots close, a lot of wedges close. It’s one of those days, every shot you hit is kind of, just has a perfect number. Pitched right, exactly, and how the ball reacted on the greens, everything was perfect. Some of the putts I had was very straightforward putts that I think I left in a good spot.” This will go in the books as his new personal best on the PGA Tour (previously a R1 62 at the 2019 Wyndham Championship). This will be An’s third time posting a first-round lead or co-lead on the PGA Tour and he went on to finish 3rd and T6 in those previous two instances.

The 31-year-old just posted a T24 at the Memorial. It was his third straight top 25 but won’t take that streak into Canada this week. Gamers should remove him from all consideration this week but certainly be willing to hop back on the train when he’s back in action.

An has been busy, making his 16th start of the season. He arrived at 63rd in the FedExCup race. Iron play and course management were the keys to success today as he gained 2.5 strokes on approach (6th) while also leaving his misses in the proper spots to allow him to go 9-for-9 scrambling. “I really do like this golf course. It’s a ball-striker’s course. I never was able to play well, but maybe this year something’s clicking, I don’t know. But this is such a good golf course. I think it’s not very long, but it’s tight and it’s got a lot of trees. So, like I said, something must have clicked today. I just made a lot of par putts and hopefully I can do that for three more days.”

The South Korean started the day in 4th place and that’s where he’ll finish after trading four birdies with a trio of birds. The 31-year-old ended the week ranked 4th in strokes gained off-the-tee and 4th around-the-green. “A good start. Really happy with a probably top-5 finish this week. Like I said, I lost my card last year and this is my first event back and I’m really happy that I finished top-5. But this definitely helps the re-rank between us.” Playing his 150th career event, this will be his ninth top-5 finish while he still searches for his breakout win on the big stage.

The South Korean didn’t impress with his ball-striking today (6-of-14 fairways, 11 GIR) but his short game delivered the goods. He gained 1.2 strokes around-the-green and another 2.8 strokes putting. “I scrambled very well and made some long par putts and birdie putts. Everything kept nicely together, I guess. Nothing was falling away from the vehicle, so overall 6 under, very happy with it in the first day of a new season.” The putter was always a wildcard during his previous stints on the PGA TOUR but he has been putting well this year. He ranked top 40 in all three of the measured putting stats on the Korn Ferry circuit. If he can maintain that steady putting, he’ll be hanging around near the top of a lot of leaderboards this season.

The 30-year-old dropped down to the Korn Ferry Tour after losing his PGA TOUR card but it didn’t take long for him to show he still belongs. An won the LECOM Suncoast Classic in February, just his third event of the KFT season. He would add a runner-up finish at the Veritex Bank Championship in April. “Losing my card last year wasn’t fun, but working back up there has been really fun.” He’ll now turn his attention toward Silverado Resort and Spa, a course where he missed the cut in his only previous appearance (2019). The South Korean has five podiums in 149 career PGA TOUR starts but is still searching for his breakout win on the big stage.

This will be the second consecutive year the two tee it up together as they were unable to play themselves into the weekend in 2021. Signing for rounds of 68-73, they fell three-strokes off the cut-line, but should give it a better go this year given the form of both players. An has been terrific on the KFT, notching a victory at the LECOM Suncoast Classic as well as a runner-up effort last week at the Veritex Bank Championship. In strong form, this will be An’s first appearance on the PGA Tour since THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT last fall where he finished in a tie for 59th-place. As an added bonus, An has shown a comfort level around TPC Louisiana in the past as he finished in a tie for second-place in 2016, the final year of the stroke-play event. As for Im, the world No. 19 came to life at the Masters where he finished in a tie for eighth-place. Keeping the momentum by his side, Im finished in a tie for 21st-place at the RBC Heritage, ranking fourth in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and first in SG: Off-the-Tee. 68th in SG: Putting, the duo’s play on the greens will likely tell the tale of their week as they are both known to occasionally run cold with the putter in hand.

South Korea’s An, a PGA Tour veteran, called his weekend “mediocre” after shooting 4-under 67 on Saturday and 2-under 69 on Sunday. He finished at 17-under par for the week to best a foursome of players that included fellow countryman Seonghyeon Kim, Scott Harrington, Ben Griffin and MJ Daffue. “It was a long day,” An said. “I was grinding all day. Last hole was a bit unlucky, lucky and unlucky at the same time, but I got the job done and that’s what you need to do.” He added that the win, despite not playing what he considered his best over the weekend, gave him new perspective: “I finally realized I don’t need to play four days of perfect golf. I had a mediocre day (Saturday) and today and still got away with this. It gives me a lot of confidence.” Playing partner Griffin and Daffue, who was in the final group, both missed potential tying birdie putts at No. 18. An attempted Monday qualifying for The Honda Classic but did not advance.

The South Korean split 8-of-14 fairways and landed just 11 greens in regulation. Not the type of numbers you’d expect to see from someone in contention but An got it done with a tidy short game. “I just need an average putting day and that will do enough for me. So like a day like today I putted great and a lot of putts went in.” Today’s round was nearly four shots better than the field average and he’s now bettered the field average by at least two shots in 8-of-23 rounds at The Open. He’s yet to string those good rounds together because he arrived with a 4-for-7 record at the event with nothing better than T26 (2014) on his resume.

The South Korean has shown flashes of form lately (T8 thru R1 of the Charles Schwab Challenge) and he looked solid again today. Going through a bit of a slump in the ball-striking department, that slump was nowhere to be found today. He gained 1.1 strokes off-the-tee and another 1.5 strokes on approach. On top of that he also gained 2.7 strokes with the flat stick. We can’t forget about his around-the-green game which showed up with a hole-out to save par from 41'11" at the par-3 14th. An has finished T35 or worse in 14 straight events but the signs are starting to show up that his game is returning to form.