By Rahul Banerji
South Korea’s Byeong Hun An missed a four-foot birdie putt and a chance to score his maiden PGA Tour win at the Sony Open in Hawaii on Sunday.
The putt would have kept An afloat in a three-way title playoff alongside Keegan Bradley that Grayson Murray won despite the Korean’s closing 6 under par 64 at the Waialae Country Club in Honolulu.
China’s Carl Yuan took a solid tied fourth place with a 7 under 63 on Sunday to keep the Asian flag flying high at the second event of the PGA Tour’s 2024 season.
Murray, An and Bradley were tied on 17 under 263 in regulation with Yuan finishing one shot behind with Russel Henry.
Indian-American Akshay Bhatia followed his fine performance at the season-opening The Sentry last week with a tied 13th place finish on 12 under 268.
Yet, rather than feel despondent, An walked away with gratitude on Sunday.
Grayson (67) dropped a 38-foot birdie putt for a second career title ahead of Bradley (67) and the 32-year-old An at the $8.3 million event that earned him a winner’s cheque of $1.49 million.
Hot run
It was An’s fifth career runner-up finish on tour, and his second top five in successive weeks after finishing solo fourth at The Sentry in Maui last Sunday.
And while he looked back at missed putts, including a 13-foot eagle attempt on 18 in regulation and his birdie miss on the first extra hole after watching Murray hole his long-range attempt, An put it all into perspective.
“It just feels very disappointing. Came down to the last putt,” said An, who moves up to second place in the FedEx Cup points list.
“I didn’t have the best start with a bogey, birdie, bogey, missed some short ones out there. Hung in there, had some good run in the middle and finished off with pretty good birdies at the end.
“I made some silly mistakes yesterday, today, and over the last four days, so it’s really – I’m not trying to blame the last putts, but it comes down to that. Overall had a solid week. I feel like I played well all around. It wasn’t too bad,” added An.
An’s high finishes in the Hawaiian events ensure his maintained his recent career trend. After losing his card in 2021, he featured on the Korn Ferry Tour for one season before regaining his tour spot.
Perspective change
While the hard work with coaches Sean Foley and John Graham, plus a switch to the broomstick putter, have been instrumental, An believes that a change in how he viewed his golf career and life has been pivotal, more so with two young children with his wife Jamie.
“I think honestly, gratitude,” he replied when asked what had been the biggest change.
“I tried hard the last couple months when I took some time off to try and look back why every round mattered a little bit too much. Our team came up with, it doesn’t matter. Golf doesn’t really matter that much.
“Obviously it means a lot to me and our family, but I tried to take a little bit of weight off my shoulders. I know I prepared pretty well in the off-season, so I think the result shows.
“Even with the tough start today and the last couple of weeks, I always came back with some birdies at the end and to finish pretty strong. I think that was the biggest change, I guess. I think the results showed this week and last week. It’s been going pretty well.”
In regulation, An, who has one win on the DP World Tour, conceded he made bad reads on his eagle attempt on the 72nd hole and during the first extra hole for birdie to extend the playoff.
“Hit it exactly where I wanted. Hit a good putt, just was a bad read” said An about his eagle opportunity.
Wrong read
“Just a poor putt (in the playoff) and poor read at the end which could have happened on any holes during 73 holes. It’s a shame it ended that way. It hurts, but what are you going to do.
“I still have a long way to go, the swing, putting, short game, everything. I feel like we always say it’s not mine, we always rent it. We rent this good run of golf, and hopefully I can rent it a little bit longer.
“When I take a couple weeks off and come back to Pebble Beach, hopefully I can get this run going (again).
Murray, who like last week’s winner Chris Kirk overcame alcoholism, was over the moon to return to the winner’s circle after his first triumph in 2017 during his rookie season.
“That a lot of hard work pays off. It’s not easy, you know. I want to give up a lot of times, give up on myself, give up on the game of golf, give up on life at times,” he said.
“This is a silly game. Hats off to Ben and hats off to Keegan for a well-played event. Unfortunately one person has to win, and that’s the way it goes in playoffs. But I’m very pleased. I knew I had to give it (his birdie putt) a chance.
“I wasn’t going to leave it short. Obviously, 100 percent of the putts that you leave short don’t go in. I just gave it my best stroke, and it went in.”
The win earned Murray full exemption till 2026 and was his first since the 2017 Barbasol Championship that came six years, five months, and 22 days ago.
Also read: Kirk comes through at The Sentry, Theegala finishes one behind
Discover more from Tee Time Tales
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.