Korean claims shock BMW PGA Championship victory
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Little known Korean Byeong-Hun An was a shock winner of the European Tour’s flagship event – the BMW PGA Championship – at Wentworth today.
An landed his maiden European Tour title in record-breaking fashion with a sensational final round performance which confirmed the enormous promise he showed as an amateur.
In the end, the Korean emerged after carding a final round 65 to finish -21 and beat the previous tournament record by two shots, finishing six ahead of veterans Miguel Angel Jiménez and Thongchai Jaidee.
England’s Chris Wood was two shots further back in fourth after a closing 66 which included winning a BMW i8 for a hole-in-one on the 14th, a tournament-record fifth ace of the week.
An is only the second player to win the European Tour’s flagship tournament on their rookie season and claimed the first prize of €833,330.
The 23 year old – who became the youngest winner of the US Amateur Championship in 2009 at the age of 17 – moves from 132nd in the Official World Golf Ranking to inside the top 60 as a result, securing his place in the US Open and Open Championship.
Afterwards An hailed a “life-changing” victory, saying: “It’s like a fifth Major to me. It’s the biggest title I have won and gets me into a lot of events. This is life-changing.
“I wasn’t expecting this. I didn’t know that a win was this close. It came all of a sudden. I’ve been playing well all year but I never thought I would win this event.”
Italy’s Francesco Molinari (-12) was one shot further back in fifth spot on his own, on ahead of England’s Tommy Fleetwood and Ireland’s Shane Lowry.
