“An tested positive for a substance prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency contained in a cough medicine available over the counter in his native Korea. He has cooperated fully with the tour throughout the process and accepted his suspension,” the PGA Tour said in a statement from Commissioner Jay Monahan.

Office of the Commissioner statement regarding Byeong Hun An pic.twitter.com/TVAxkPxg5k

— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) October 11, 2023

The statement also said that An has “cooperated fully” and that he will be eligible to return to competition on December 1. The suspension is retroactive to August 31.

An, the 2009 US Amateur champion, finished 44th in FedEx Cup standings during the 2022-23 PGA Tour season. He had 31 starts with 12 top-25 finishes, including a tie for second place at the Wyndham Championship, two shots behind winner Lucas Glover. An tied for third place at the Genesis Scottish Open in July. He earned $3,231,760 during the season.

Main image: Gregory Shamus

The post Ben An suspended from PGA Tour for violating drug policy appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

While Byeong Hun An was having a fine season up until last month, things took a serious turn for the better in late July and early August. The 31-year-old picked up a T-3 at the Genesis Scottish Open and a T-2 at the Wyndham Championship to finish off the regular season, positioning himself to make a legitimate run at the FedEx Cup crown during the playoffs.

This week at the FedEx St Jude Championship, An is back near the top of the leaderboard, shooting rounds of 67 and 68 at TPC Southwind to reach five under (T-18). The man is running hot, so hot that he’s now been “randomly” drug tested for a second time in a rather short period of time. File this under things that make you go “hmmmm…”:

Getting drug tested twice in last three events. Totally random right?

— Byeong Hun An (@ByeongHunAn) August 11, 2023

Per the tour’s policy, players may be selected at any time or place, both inside and outside of tournament competition. All testing is without prior notice. Surely, An being selected twice in three events, events he happens to be playing very well in, is purely coincidental.

As one Twitter user pointed out, An is smashing the ball these days, ranking top five on tour in driving distance. No, we’re not suggesting that’s why he’s being randomly selected, just pointing out the facts:

Do u know how hard it is to pee when they ask u to pee? https://t.co/kTFr0I10FO

— Byeong Hun An (@ByeongHunAn) August 11, 2023

An is having plenty of fun with the whole thing on social media, even joking that the top three finishes on tour each week should be drug tested every Sunday. He also knows he has nothing to hide, though that doesn’t make the test itself any easier to take:

Stage fright is a very real thing.

The post FedEx Cup contender questions timing of ‘random’ drug tests during recent hot stretch appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The South Korean carded nine birdies to set the early target ahead of Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy and Belgian Thomas Detry, while American Davis Riley threatened his lead in the afternoon. Although he carded seven birdies in eight holes from the third, An would not be caught in the third Rolex Series event of the season.

Riley was also bogey-free to sit at seven under after a 63, a shot clear of Detry and McIlroy and two ahead of South Korea’s K.H. Lee and German Yannik Paul.

An is no stranger to claiming big wins on the DP World Tour, having triumphed at the BMW PGA Championship in 2015 en route to finishing seventh in the Race to Dubai and winning the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Award.

He also has a win on the European Challenge Tour and revealed he felt right at home in Europe and on links having played in eight Open Championships.

“It’s great,” he said. “I feel like I’m back home. This is the Tour where I started my professional career. It’s been great coming back and playing links golf, definitely it’s nice.

“I started on the Challenge Tour playing links courses and played The Open many times. I like links golf.

“It’s different than the courses we play in the US. You just have to land it in different spots. I really like it and as long as the weather is nice, and I prefer warm weather, but a links course, I feel comfortable. It can get tricky hitting shots into (the wind) but I think I did well today.”

An got up and down to birdie the par-five tenth and then rattled off four birdies in a row from the 13th. Brilliant iron play saw him make a hat-trick of gains from inside seven feet before he made another up-and-down birdie on a par five at the 16th.

He made a nine-footer on the second and a smart chip helped complete his set of par-five birdies on the next before he put an approach to six feet at the short par-four fifth and holed from 24 feet for a closing gain.

“It was nice, always, bogey-free nine under par,” he said. “I couldn’t play any better. I drove it well and hit it well and chipped it well and putted well. That’s a clean scorecard.

“I hit a lot of shots close, a lot of wedges close. It’s one of those days, every shot you hit 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 were very straightforward putts that I think I left in a good spot.”

Riley made a two-putt birdie on the third and then put on a masterclass with the short stick to make four more in a row from between five and 26 feet.

A tee-shot to seven feet on the difficult par-three ninth saw him turn in 29 and he added another birdie with a two-putt on then tenth before parring his way home.

Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex leader McIlroy made a two-putt birdie on the par-five tenth and then holed from around 20 feet on the 12th and 13th.

A 41-foot putt on the 15th was followed by an up-and-down birdie on the par-five next and, while McIlroy bogeyed the 17th and second, he eagled the par-five third with a 30-footer from off the green after a 360-yard drive and made the most of the short par-four fifth after leaving himself a flick in.

Detry made birdie from inside 12 feet on the tenth, 11th, 12th and 14th to get off to a lightning start and, while he dropped a shot on the 16th, he left himself a tap-in on the next.

Another bogey came on the fourth but smart approaches to the fifth and eighth were followed by another stunner on the ninth as he got to six under.

Lee was bogey-free in his 65, while Paul carded four birdies, an eagle and a bogey to sit a shot ahead of American duo Max Homa and Will Gordon, local favourite Ewen Ferguson, South African Oliver Bekker, Frenchman Julien Brun, England’s Ross Fisher, South Korean Tom Kim and Swede David Lingmerth.

The post Byeong Hun An ties Renaissance record to lead in Scotland appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Going low on the DP World Tour is something Byeong Hun An (Ben to his English-speaking followers) has always been able to accomplish. So even a starling nine-under-par 61 in the opening round of the Scottish Open at a breezy Renaissance Club is nothing new. Back in 2015, An won the biggest tournament on the Old World circuit, the BMW PGA Championship, by six shots. His 21-under-par 267 remains a record for the DP World Tour’s flagship event.

Throw in An’s three years on both the European Challenge Tour and the main circuit and it is clear that the 31-year-old South Korean is no stranger to the sort of conditions that prevailed on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth.

“I couldn’t play any better,” he said with a smile after posting the lowest score in 561 rounds on the PGA Tour. “I drove it well and hit it well and chipped it well and putted well. That’s a clean scorecard. Overall, very relaxed out there and weather was nice, too. I like links golf. It’s different than the courses we play in the U.S. You just have to land it in different spots. I really like it as long as the weather is nice. I prefer warm weather but on a links course, I feel comfortable no matter what. I feel like I’m back home. This is the Tour I started my professional career. It’s been great coming back. It can get tricky hitting shots into the greens but I think I did well today.”

That he did, the former U.S. Amateur champion (at 17, he became the youngest to claim that title when he won in 2009) mixed nine birdies with nine pars over the 7,237-yard Tom Doak-design.

“I hit a lot of shots close, a lot of wedges close,” An said. “It was one of those days. Every shot I hit was from a perfect number. They all pitched right and how the ball reacted on the greens was perfect. Some of the putts I had were very straightforward putts. It seemed like I was last in a good spot. Overall today, everything went really well.”

That level of positivity was especially true on the greens. An holed out unerringly while wielding a long, broomstick putter, an implement that entered his bag only recently.

“This is my fourth week with it,” said An, who missed two cuts and finished T-51 at last week’s John Deere Classic… “I feel very comfortable. When we switched, I talked to other fellows who use the broomstick putter, guys like Adam [Scott] and Si Woo [Kim]. I asked them for the pros and cons and they all said, it looked good. We are trying to get my hands out of the stroke and the long putter helps me a lot with that. I’ve been putting pretty decent over the past couple weeks. I just need more time with it.”

Putting has long been a sore spot for An. He ranked outside the top 175 on the PGA Tour in strokes gained/putting in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021, when he lost his card and had to play again on the Korn Ferry Tour. (So far this season he’s T-141st at -.233.) An has been able to poke fun at himself about his “prowess” on the greens in the past.

And he even embraced this tune from Golf Twitter’s parody song King Sam Harrop:

Here's my latest golf song – with credit, of course, to the Beatles.

I think we all know @ByeongHunAn is one of the good guys. So if you happen to see this, Ben, please know that it comes from a place of love!

RTs & YouTube subscribes (https://t.co/gumjIjqmhy) appreciated ? pic.twitter.com/rikpiMAEE9

— Sam Harrop (@sam_golf) July 6, 2020

I had to do this for you @sam_golf ??? pic.twitter.com/brLtCjjd3v

— Byeong Hun An (@ByeongHunAn) July 7, 2020

Since earning back his PGA Tour card for 2022-23, An has stayed busy, playing in 26 events. While only having two top-10 finishes, he’s made 19 cuts and sits 58th in the FedEx Cup standings with the top 70 cutoff for the Playoffs coming in a little more than a month.

It’s been a busy season for An on the PGA Tour, having played 26 events. While only having two top-10 finishes, he’s made 19 cuts and sits 58th in the FedEx Cup standings with the top 70 cutoff for the Playoffs coming in a little more than a month.

While it is possible to analyze scores like this one in Scotland almost endlessly, the explanation for how it came about is, more often than not, quite simple.

“When you’re playing well, everything goes your way,” An said. “We had the wind going up and down a little bit, but you can’t do much about that. And when the wind switches, you have to adjust to it and try to play that way. I feel like it wasn’t a consistent wind today but at the same time when I hit a shot, it didn’t switch right after impact. Basically, everything went my way.”

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By Joel Beall
Byeong Hun An’s Twitter handle is usually a delightful stop of self-deprecation. On Tuesday, it was one of aggravation, and it wasn’t pointed at himself.

The PGA Tour released tee times for this week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic, and the sheet showed An in the first pairing, 6:45 a.m., in Round 1. A fan noticed that these dew-sweeping responsibilities have become common for An, and tweeted at the South Korean player: “You’ve got to be asking for these at this point.”

An saw the tweet, and his response left little room for interpretation.

“Never asked for it and i f****** hate it,” An replied. He later followed that tweet up by saying, “I may look like [I’m} b******* but no one can criticise me unless they like waking up at 3:45…”

Clearly, An is not a morning person.

It’s no secret there are preferred tee times on tour and that they go to the superstars. The upshot is that players not in this group occasionally feel “banished” to the first or last times of the day. How these players are slotted is supposed to be random, although An feels that’s not the case.

The Rocket Mortgage will mark the seventh time since the Waste Management Phoenix Open that An has gone off at 7:22 a.m. or earlier on Thursday or Friday—and that’s across a 15-event span.

An was a member of the 2019 Presidents Cup team, but this season has not gone his way. He enters Detroit outside the FedEx Cup top 150 and has dropped 90 spots in the world ranking in the past year (currently at No. 141), meaning he is not really a candidate at the moment for those prime-time slots. For what it’s worth, players usually don’t come out on the business end of tee times in consecutive days; An, for example, goes off Friday at noon.

To his credit An kept things light—while still bringing the heat—in follow-ups to his comment. When told he should play slow as a form of protest, An replied “Even [if] I try to play slow, it will be nowhere near slow players.” Our only wish is An takes this to the extreme and decides to pitch a tent on the first tee Wednesday night. For protest, sure, but at least he’ll get a few more hours of sleep.

The post Tour pro furious after receiving another early tee time: “I ****** hate it” appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
Believe it or not, we’re seven months into the PGA Tour’s 2020-21 “Super Season.” There’s already been three majors (with three more to come!), a Players Championship and a pair of WGCs. It may feel like there’s still a ways to go, but in reality we’re more than halfway done.

With that being the case, it’s officially time to start sweating for some of the game’s higher profile players, and by sweating we mean keeping an eye on the FedEx Cup standings. This season, a number of former major winners, tour winners and usual FedEx Cup Playoff locks are on the outside looking in at the moment. Yes, there are 18 events left until the first leg of the playoffs, The Northern Trust at Liberty National, which seems like a lot until you consider that we’ve played 27 tournaments already, so some serious ground needs to be made up.

Here are eight tour pros who you might be surprised have work to do to get inside the top 125 by season’s end.

Steve Dykes

Rickie Fowler (Current FEC ranking: 128th)

Rickie’s slump has been well-documented, and yet, of the names on this list, he’s the closest to cracking the top 125 as it currently stands. It helps that his “slump” has included a T-29 in the November Masters, a T-21 at The American Express, a T-20 at Riviera and a T-17 at Valero the week before the Masters, his best finish since the WGC-FedEx St. Jude last summer. No, none of those finishes are up to Fowler’s standards, but they’ve been good enough to keep him hanging around that 125 mark. Like his buddy Jordan Spieth, Fowler seems to be very invested in “the process,” one he hopes will net similar results to those Spieth is seeing. If it doesn’t soon, however, he’ll be in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time in his PGA Tour career.

• • •

Kevin C. Cox

Justin Rose (Current FEC ranking: 135th)

Rose began to show flashes of his former World No. 1 self last June, starting with a T-3 at Colonial, the first post-pandemic tour event. He backed that up with a ninth at the PGA in August and a T-2 at the European Tour’s Saudi International in early 2021. A bad back knocked him out of Bay Hill while he was in contention, though, and it seemed like an issue that seriously stunted his progress. Then he grabbed the first-round lead at the Masters and contended deep into the weekend, ultimately finishing solo seventh. If the back holds up, there’s no doubt he’ll be a regular contender again, which would seem to make advancing into the FedEx Cup Playoffs a formality. The Englishman has advanced to the playoffs 12 straight times, including 2018, when he infamously won the FedEx Cup despite not winning the Tour Championship (some guy named Tiger won that one).

• • •

Steve Dykes

Brandt Snedeker (Current FEC ranking: 136th)

Like Rose, Snedeker is another former FedEx Cup champion who has been a regular in the playoffs. Injuries combined with poor form have been an issue in 2020-21, although he seems to be turning a corner. Just two weeks ago, Sneds tied for sixth at the Valero, his first top-10 since the 2020 Farmers Insurance Open. He’s in the field this week at the RBC Heritage, an event he won in 2011 and has four other top-25 finishes.

• • •

Kevin C. Cox

Gary Woodland (Current FEC ranking: 140th)

Woodland, like Rose and Snedeker, also has had some injury concerns that have led to a rough stretch for the 2019 U.S. Open champ. Back in the fall, Woodland finished 72nd at the CJ Cup at Shadow Creek, then withdrew from the Zozo Championship at Sherwood his next start, and could be seen lying on a tee box with back pain before being carted off. He’s had a semi bounce back since, with a T-16 at the AMEX and a T-6 at the Valero, and appears to be feeling better. Though, following a solid first round at the Players, Woodland said if it flares up again he’ll have to go under the knife. For now, he’s playing better and feeling better, which he should be able to start capitalizing on. Woodland hasn’t missed the playoffs since 2012.

• • •

Harry How

Byeong Hun An (Current FEC ranking: 151st)

You might laugh at Benny An making a “big names” list, but An was once ranked 24th in the world, and he hasn’t missed the tour’s postseason since 2016. The super season has not been kind, however, to the 29-year-old former U.S. Amateur champion. In 15 starts he’s missed eight cuts, with only one top-10. He’s too talented for that to continue, though if the putter remains ice cold it may be too much to overcome.

• • •

Jared C. Tilton

Phil Mickelson (Current FEC ranking: 157th)

Even last year, when Mickelson’s struggles began, he still was able to sneak into The Northern Trust, continuing his streak of making it to the playoffs every season since their inception in 2007. That streak is now officially in danger, as Lefty has failed to post a single top-20 in the 2020-21 season. The ball-striking has turned around, and he continues to grind his face off, but the putter, once one of his greatest weapons, has vanished. If Mickelson is to be believed, he’s “close,” and he often does his best work with his back against the wall. As of now, he’s not currently in the U.S. Open field, and it’s becoming increasingly likely that he gets left off the Ryder Cup team for the first time since 1993. Those would be two crushing blows for Mickelson, who wants to still compete with the young guns but knows a life of dominating the PGA Tour Champions, and/or sliding into the broadcast booth is calling.

• • •

Kevin C. Cox

Danny Willett (Current FEC ranking: 159th)

Willett, like so many other European Tour pros, had his positive momentum get somewhat stifled by the pandemic. He had just began to turn his career back around in 2018 and 2019 with multiple European Tour wins, but in the post-COVID world he has just two top-10s in 25 starts. The good news—one of those came recently at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship, a sign he’s settling back into PGA Tour life. He’s since followed up with consecutive MCs at the Valero and the Masters, but will look to get back on track at Harbour Town, where he’s MC’d in all three career appearances.

• • •

Jared C. Tilton

Henrik Stenson (Current FEC ranking: 170th)

Like many of the names above, Stenson’s game has gone completely missing over the last year and change. The former World No. 2 and FedEx Cup champ won the Hero World Challenge in 2019 just before the calendar turned to 2020, but has been a mess since, with zero top-10s to be found. There was signs of life last week at the Masters, where he was one under after 54 holes and wound up tying for 38th, but he’ll need a lot more than T-38s to start climbing the rankings. If he fails to reach the playoffs, it would mark the third straight time he’s missed the postseason, though one of those years, 2019, Stenson was eligible but skipped them entirely.

The post 8 players you might be surprised have work to do to reach the FedEx Cup Playoffs appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Daniel Rapaport
PONTE VEDRA BEACH — Byeong-Hun An has a great sense of humour. Which is good, because there are only two options after doing what he did on 17 and 18 at TPC Sawgrass on Thursday: Laugh or cry.

An was going along perfectly fine through 16 holes during the opening round of the Players. The 29-year-old former U.S. Amateur champion just birdied the par-5 16th to get back to one over for the day, a very respectable number on a difficult morning for scoring. An then stepped to the 17th tee and everything went totally, completely, absolutely, horribly wrong.

It began when he fatted his tee shot into the water. From the drop area, his third shot went over the green and into the drink. His fifth shot, same thing. He returned to hitting it fat for his seventh, which was never close to terra firma. His ninth shot found the green, and he two-putted for an 11.

No. 17 strikes again. Ben An records an 11 on the island green.

That’s the second-highest score ever on the 17th in the ShotLink era. pic.twitter.com/1nZ8a6HvY4

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 11, 2021

That’s four balls in the water and a … checks Google … octuple-bogey 11. That’s just one better than the worst-ever score at 17: a 12, courtesy of Bob Tway in 2005.

Adding insult to death, An then tugged his tee ball on the par-4 18th into the water and wound up making double-bogey 6. He played the final two holes in 10 over par, which is the second-worst total anyone’s ever posted on 17 and 18 in a single round at the Players—Phil Blackmar played them in 11 over in the second round of 1990, according to the Golf Channel broadcast.

An wound up signing for an 11-over 83, but he can take a little bit of solace. He still beat Henrik Stenson, who shot 85.

And, impressively, he was able to laugh about the round afterward … or at least have some fun at his own expense.

@ByeongHunAn https://t.co/BqQcee3cwo

— Byeong Hun An (@ByeongHunAn) March 11, 2021

We all have bad days in our life and we just have to learn to move on…..

But it was a horrendous f—-ing tee shot on 17th…

— Byeong Hun An (@ByeongHunAn) March 11, 2021

The post Byeong-Hun An nearly made history at 17, and NOT in a good way appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Thomas, who won this event in 2017, played a bogey-free round that included birdies on his first four holes at Nine Bridges on Jeju Island, South Korea. He is at 13-under par 131, two ahead of New Zealander Danny Lee and first-round leader Byeong Hun An of South Korea.

In his previous three starts on the PGA Tour, Thomas has finished first in the BMW Championship, tied for third in the Tour Championship and tied for fourth in the Safeway Open, his first start of the new season.

Thomas and Lee were tied for the lead late in the round, but Lee dropped a shot at the par-5 18th, a hole on which Thomas made a two-putt birdie to give him a two-stroke lead.

Defending champion Brooks Koepka, meanwhile, shot a three-over-par 75 and is at even-par 144.

The post Justin Thomas, a past champion, shoots a 63 to open a two-stroke lead in the CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Strege
It was not a home game for North Carolinian J.T. Poston, but it was close enough, and with a large hometown following on hand, he won the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C., his first PGA Tour victory.

Poston, whose hometown is Hickory, N.C., 100 miles west of Greensboro, shot an eight-under-par 62 at Sedgefield Country Club, equaling the low round of his PGA Tour career. He completed a bogey-free 72 holes in 22-under par 258, one better than runner-up Webb Simpson and two ahead of 54-hole leader Byeong Hun An.

“Any win out here on tour is a dream come true, but to do it here in N.C. and Greenboro, an hour-and-a-half from where I grew up, and to have so many friends and family and people who came in this morning and last night, to be able to play like this and get a win on the PGA Tour is something I never could have imagined.”

Poston and An were engaged in a duel for virtually the entire final round. An, similarly, was seeking his first PGA Tour win and also was closing in on playing 72 holes without a bogey.

Playing ahead of An, Poston birdied the par-5 15th hole to take a one-stroke lead, then parred out. An, however, hit his tee shot at 15 right of the fairway and into tall fescue grass, requiring he take an unplayable lie. The penalty stroke led to his first bogey of the tournament, on his 69th hole, and he fell two behind.

An followed with a birdie at 16 and again was one off the lead, but after a par at 17, he bogeyed 18, shot a three-under 67 and fell to third place when Simpson made birdie to complete a round of 65.

“Those par putts the last five or six holes, there were some nerves,” Poston said. “But I tried to tell myself I’d been in that position before in college and amateur golf and this is no different and just knock in another three or four-footer.”

Poston, who played college golf at Western Carolina, is in his third season on the PGA Tour. His best finish had been a tie for fourth, last season in the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. His best finish this season had been a T-6 at the RBC Heritage, one of two top 10s he had prior to this victory.

As for Simpson, another native North Carolinian who won here in 2011, it was the second year in a row he finished second.

The post North Carolinian J.T. Poston equals his career low, a 62, to win the Wyndham Championship before a hometown following appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Wyndham Championship leader Byeong Hun An is in pursuit of his first PGA Tour victory, but adding to the difficulty on Sunday will be the fact that a past champion, Webb Simpson, is only one back.

An, 27, played a third straight bogey-free round at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C., a four-under par 66 to complete 54 holes in 17-under par 193.

Simpson, who won the event in 2011 and finished second last year, shot a five-under 65 and is at 16-under 194, as is Brice Garnett.

An, a South Korean, has made 93 PGA Tour starts without a victory, though he has won on the European Tour, the 2015 BMW PGA Championship. He has finished runner-up in three PGA Tour events in his career.

Simpson, a North Carolina native, is seeking a sixth PGA Tour victory and first since the 2018 Players Championship. He finished second at the WGC-Fed Ex St. Jude Invitational last week.

“I had a chance to win there,” he said. “I played well down the stretch. It’s one of those feelings that you’re happy you played well and you had a hot finish at a good tournament, but you’re first out of winning. So it did create some more hunger to get back to the winner’s circle.”

Viktor Hovland, 21, the reigning U.S. Amateur champion, is among those in contention. He shot a six-under 64 and is three off the lead. He turned professional after tying for 12th in the U.S. Open in June and in his last three PGA Tour starts has finished T-13, T-13 and T-16.

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