Ben An was at the beach, the sun was out, it was Friday, and he was done with his job for the week. He was peachy.
Feisty, too.
Earlier, he seemed disheartened. An had a solid start at the Players Championship, shooting a three-under 69, and was tied for 21st after the first round. However, things took a turn on Friday when golf balls went missing.
In order during his second round, An:
— Double-bogeyed the 387-yard, par-4 4th after hitting his second shot into the water left of the green.
— Double-bogeyed the 386-yard, par-4 6th. But he’d also made three birdies on his front nine, and he was one-over for the day going to 10.
— Double-bogeyed the 408-yard, par-4 10th after taking a penalty stroke after his tee shot.
— Parred the 566-yard, par-5 11th after hitting his second shot into the water to the right of the green.
— Bogeyed the 375-yard, par-4 12th after taking a penalty stroke after his tee shot.
— Bogeyed the 489-yard, par-4 14th and the 447-yard, par-5 15th.
— Quadruple-bogeyed the 147-yard, par-3 17th after hitting two-straight shots into the water on the famed island hole.
An sandwiched two birdies between the seven on 17, yet it proved insufficient. The consequences were unsightly. An recorded an eight-over 80, including six penalty strokes, five of which occurred during his back nine. He concluded two rounds in a tie for 120th place, plummeting a staggering 99 positions from the previous day.
However, An possesses a calm demeanor. He did not appear excessively distressed.
He managed to find a moment to check Twitter, see some compliments, and respond graciously.
A sampling:
— “You laughing at this round today?! Me too,” wrote one troll.
Replied An about a half-hour later: “Of course. Couldn’t have played better.”
— “Great round today. Another miss cut,” wrote another troll.
Replied An about 20 minutes later: “You must have mistaken me some other korean player. This is my first miss cut in few months…”
— “You are terrible at golf,” wrote a third troll.
Replied An five minutes later: “I agree. It was terrible golf today.”
Another response was maybe his best, though.
The troll expressed, “Therein lies the problem if, within an hour of missing a cut, you engage with fans on Twitter.”
An individual responded approximately thirty minutes later, expressing confusion with a simple “What?”
Accompanying the response was a photograph of the person enjoying their time at the beach.
What? https://t.co/1Gjf3j646s pic.twitter.com/Y49ZWIfFwf
— Byeong Hun An (@ByeongHunAn) March 15, 2024
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