The actual U.S. Open score sheet of Byeong-Hun An went up for bid on e-Bay four days ago.
An holds up trophy after winning the U.S. Amateur.
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Needless to say, after the 18-year-old recent graduate of
Bradenton Prep Academy (Bradenton, Fla.) by way of South Korea shot an opening eight-over-round 79 at Pebble Beach Golf Links on Thursday, bidders weren’t exactly clamoring.
Matter of fact, five hours after his round, there still wasn’t a single bid from the opening price of $20.
But that doesn’t mean An isn’t money. His future appears laced in gold.
He’s the only high school player among the 10 amateurs this week in California and last summer he was the youngest player to ever win the U.S. Amateur. He crushed then Clemson senior Ben Martin 7 and 5 at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla.
He was only the third player younger than 20 to win the prestigious 109-year-old event. The others were Tiger Woods and Danny Lee.
An was three weeks shy of his 18th birthday when he defeated Martin.
“I can’t believe I just won,” he told reporters after the historic win. “My goal was to make it to the first round then somehow I made it this far. I think I got lucky.”
Hardly.
His parents were both Olympic ping pong medalist from the 1988 Seoul Games and he devoted his life fully to golf 4? years ago when he entered the IMG Academy in Florida. He started swinging the club at age 6.
He didn’t speak a word of English before he landed in the U.S., but he’s certainly Americanized. Even before winning the U.S. Amateur.
He told
Sports Illustrated reporter Farrell Evans that he’s constantly on Facebook, which reveals his favorite movies – “Superbad” and “The Hangover” – and his favorite musical artists – Taylor Swift and Eminem.
Despite his social networking and 8-10 hours a day on the golf course, An had time to maintain a 4.0 grade point average as a junior and 3.7 as a senior.
He’s headed to Cal - about a 90-minute drive from Pebble Beach – to play college golf.
“Steve Desimone is a great coach,” An told Evans about his college choice. “Secondly, the San Francisco area has great weather for golf, and the school is obviously great academically.
The weather, though dry and sunny, didn’t translate to good scores on Thursday.
The sun and mild wins hardened the famed course, making it almost impossible to control the ball.
An, paired with Americans Stewart Cink and Lucas Glover, bogeyed three of the first four holes and added a double on the par 4 428-yard No. 8. He played better on the back nine with seven pars, but a bogey on No. 18 was a fitting conclusion to a rough round.
He didn't make a single birdie but no shame there. Either did the world's top two players, Woods (74) and Phil Mickelson (75). Only nine players beat par and 15 shot in the 80s, including an 86 by
Blaine Puffley.
An will tee off Friday at 1:47 p.m. local time along with Cink and Glover again. The sunny weather could harden the course further, but players are hopeful fog will replace the breeze not only to control the ball but to soften extremely trick greens.
Forecasts, however, show winds to actually increase slightly.
