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BMW PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 24, 2016

Byeong-Hun An

Surrey, England

SARAH GWYNN: Thank you very much for joining us at the BMW PGA Championship. Welcome back.

BYEONG HUN AN: Thank you.

SARAH GWYNN: Before we start, you have some news about your relationship with Wentworth, so if you want to just talk us through that briefly.

BYEONG HUN AN: I'll be part of the Wentworth ambassadors. I'm looking forward to it. It's a great honour to me have to have that opportunity and to take it. It is such a wonderful golf course and has a lot of history to it, and won here last year. It's great to be part of it and I'm glad that I can have this opportunity.

SARAH GWYNN: That's great news. Just briefly talk us through how it feels being back here as defending champion and the memories you have.

BYEONG HUN AN: It's my second time to play and it feels comfortable. It's a bit different to other courses I think because I've won here before. When I play the course, I feel really comfortable and I know where to hit and where to not hit. It feels a bit different than me going to other events I think. I feel really relaxed. So hopefully my shots will work this week.

SARAH GWYNN: Is there anything from last year's win that stands out in particular when you return here.

BYEONG HUN AN: I just remember every single shot I hit on Sunday. I remember where my ball was and how I hit it. That's a good. I think we'll see on Sunday; hopefully I can duplicate that.

Q. You said last year that after you won that it was a life-changing event. How has your life changed?
BYEONG HUN AN: A lot. I'm now in the Top-25 in the world. That's a lot of change from last year because before this event, I was 133rd or something like that. So that's a big change, and got to play all the majors, the Masters this year, and all three majors last year. I think that's a big change in my life, and now I have a chance to play on the PGA Tour, and basically I got it for this year.

It was definitely life-changing. Got me into a lot of events and boosted my confidence that I could compete and got me good results in The Final Series last year. Gave me good confidence and definitely changed it a lot when I look back, yeah.

Q. Has it gone even better than you could have expected, to go on and take on from the win, to go from 132nd in the world to Top-25; is it even better than you were hoping, more quickly?
BYEONG HUN AN: I think so, yeah, especially -- yeah, yeah, definitely. My goal was to try to get Top 50 in the world in last year and try to get me into all the majors this year. Somehow just kept the momentum going. Been playing well this year, and ended up 25th in the world right now. Hopefully it will get up more. But definitely started last year after this event, yeah, different goals.

Q. I remember you telling us last year that your parents were successful Olympians in the table tennis in Seoul. What would it mean to you to qualify for the Olympics in Rio? Is that a high priority for you, as well?
BYEONG HUN AN: Yes, obviously. Yes, definitely. I'd love to play in the Olympics. They played it. They got silver and bronze medal. I've got to try to get gold then.

Yeah, it's just by playing in it is really special for me. So I'll try to try my best to try to make the team.

Q. What age did you start playing golf?
BYEONG HUN AN: Seven. I didn't play, like practice every day for a couple hours. Just touched some clubs when I was seven, followed my dad, hit like five balls a day. Seven.

Q. When did you start realising that you could probably make a career out of it?
BYEONG HUN AN: I think when I was ten probably, I started seeing a coach and just hitting balls. I called it coach but he just kind of took us to the range and course, because when you're ten years old, you're not just going to take the bag and go to the golf course.

I think when I was ten, I was like, okay, this could be my job later.

Q. How many hours a week do you practise, roughly, on average?
BYEONG HUN AN: Probably a day, I'd say, not including the playing time, probably on the range for about four hours, five hours on the range and play for about three hours.

Q. Has your success inspired any young people in Korea to take up the game?
BYEONG HUN AN: Hope so. But I'm still young, too (laughs). I still look up to a couple Korean pros and other golfers. But I hope we're really inspired and I hope they come out on The European Tour. Like you see, you saw a lot of winners already, Wang and Li, and it's good to see them coming out here and good for me to just play with them in the practise round and hang out with them. It's great to have those guys and hopefully more guys will come over and play The European Tour.

Q. How do you deal with your emotions on the golf course when you're in contention?
BYEONG HUN AN: It's hard. It's really hard. I've been playing golf for 18 years now -- well, starting at ten, I've been playing for 15 years. I think that's still my weakness I think, trying to get over some bad shots.

But I'll try to calm my mind somehow. I'll just say, it's not the last round of your life. You have plenty more golf events and plenty more golf shots to play. I'm only 24; I'm not going to stress out about one shot. Trying to take it easy on me.

Q. How do you prevent injury?
BYEONG HUN AN: Try to work out and stretch as much as you can. Injury comes no matter what. If you're a professional golfer, everyone has -- just all depends. It could be big, but small. It happens but try to minimise it by stretching and working out.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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