After enjoying his career-best season, South Korea’s Byeong Hun An knows exactly what he must do to build on 2024 as he seeks to achieve new goals this year – start from scratch all over again.
The 33-year-old An qualified for the Tour Championship for the first time following five top-10s and seven other top-25s and finished 21st in the FedExCup standings, his best since making his PGA Tour debut in 2017. He also triumphed on the DP World Tour at the end of last year as he won the Genesis Championship on home soil.
One of his top highlights included a runner-up finish at the Sony Open in Hawaii, where he is back at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu this week, as he looks to atone a playoff loss which denied him a maiden PGA Tour victory.
“It’s good to be back. I always come with my family and I’m having a great time with them. With a decent finish last year, I wish to perform even better this week,” said An.
“Last year was a good one as I accomplished a lot of my goals. I even won my last event, so I’m pretty happy. It’s a new season and I feel like I’m starting from scratch again. FedExCup points are back to square one. However, I have a lot of confidence carrying over from last year, and I’m more motivated to do well in the new season. It’ll be good to make it into TOUR Championship again. Another goal is to win a PGA Tour event.”
The Orlando-based An began the new 2025 season by finishing T32 at The Sentry, also played in Hawaii, last weekend and hopes to get his game to click at Waialae starting on Thursday.
“Last week was a less than satisfactory performance. But there are still a lot of holes and a lot of events. I’m going to focus on every shot I make, not on the result or the score. I believe in my golf. Hopefully this year I’ll play better than last year, but in golf you never know what you’re going to get. I like this golf course. I think I just need to play the golf I want to play every week and work hard,” he said.
An’s statistics last season showed he was rock solid with his driving, ranking 22nd in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and he was 70th for Approach the Green. He ranked outside the top-100 for Around the Green and Putting, areas of his game which he would have put in the work during the off-season.
“I focused on everything,” An explained. “As you get older, it’s harder to maintain distance. You have to take good care of your body, work on your shots, work on everything. It’s hard to pick one thing. I prepared for everything.”
Countryman Si Woo Kim, winner of the Sony Open in 2022, is also cherishing a return to Waialae as he seeks a career fifth PGA Tour title. “I won this tournament in 2022, I feel great. I have great memories from here so I’m looking forward to it,” said Kim, who finished T32 last week.
“It was the first win after I got married, which makes it extra special. This course has narrow fairways, but I’m comfortable with my tee shots. I’m trying to focus a little more on my putting.”
Last year, Kim, who like An featured for the International Team in the Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal, finished 32nd on the FedExCup standings following three top-10s and nine top-25s. What was especially pleasing was the fact he missed only two cuts in 25 starts.
“I played pretty consistently last year. I didn’t win any tournaments, but I think I only missed the cut once or twice. I was happy with my play. I’m disappointed that I didn’t win, but I want to prepare well this season and play steadily to win the tournaments,” said Kim.
