SONY OPEN IN HAWAII

January 12, 2024

Byeong Hun An

Waialae Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Ben, how would you characterize the round today?

BYEONG HUN AN: Pretty calm and nice. 6-under, ended up pretty good. Hit some poor shots out there that I would like to hit a little better; I also hit some great shots out there. Great drives. Gave myself good birdie looks.

Yeah, flawless. Bogey-free, and I'll take it.

Q. Is this continuation from last week, the good play out a Kapalua?

BYEONG HUN AN: Yeah, I guess so. I took four month off so I was a little worried about not playing for that long. I never took four month off, so I was a little worried. Last week I played pretty decent I feel like, so that give me a lot of boost of confidence coming into this week.

Played well here last year, too. I guess something suits me in this golf course. Maybe type of grass or something. I've been playing pretty good here.

Hopefully I can get two more rounds out of it and hopefully a little bit better in the weekend.

Q. What did you do during those four months?

BYEONG HUN AN: I played golf, practiced a lot. Me and my coach, Sean Foley, worked on the same stuff we been working on for a year and a half or two.

That and a bit of everything. Putting, too. My coach, John Graham, been working pretty hard on the green readings here and there, but mostly, yeah, just everything.

I got all the time in the world -- four months is a long time, so yeah, I was practicing, working out, worked pretty hard. I was very pleased with myself, how I progressed the last four months and I think it's showing in the result right here.

Q. What's the biggest change in your swing since you started working with Sean?

BYEONG HUN AN: That's a good question. Probably the -- there are many things we been working on, but maybe face control, try to get a little but stronger club face throughout the swing. A little width on the swing, not get narrowed down, so I'll have a little bit more consistent strike.

I feel like my swing has been very consistent last couple month and last year I feel like played some good golf. Mostly I think away from the technical side I think he's helping me a lot with the mental side, too.

I feel like I've been very improved as a person on the golf course I feel like. Just the talks that I had with him every single day when I see him at Lake Nona back home or when I'm here he has been calling and texting me on a daily basis reminding me of the things I have to do on the golf course.

Those things help me to become a better golfer out here I think, so it's been working great. I don't want to tell anybody our secrets, but it's been working.

Q. Did you beat yourself up, Ben, on the golf course?

BYEONG HUN AN: Yeah. You know, like many other golfers, you know, you struggle with -- I was a little harsh on myself. Golf meant a lot to me. Still means a lot. But almost matter a little bit too much.

My coach always reminds me I have a beautiful family. There is nothing matters more than that. He reminds me every single day, even yesterday, today after the round, doesn't matter what I shoot. Only matters is the family, not the golf.

Golf means something, but just I'm trying to take it a little bit weight off from it.

Q. So if Nick is a 1 and Tyrrell Hatton is a 10, where would you put you?

BYEONG HUN AN: It was about 9 for me before, but now it's more like a 5 or 4. Yeah, it hurts when I hit some bad shots. I still get upset, but I was able to shake it off a lot easier this year and definitely last two events.

Yes, I've been hitting better shots maybe, but just helps me to get back into it.

Q. When you went to work with John did you start doing AimPoint? Had you done it before?

BYEONG HUN AN: I done it before but we tied things up. A little bit more in details. Always work on the technical side of it. I feel like little self-confidence helps a lot, because I know what I'm doing is right.

That helps on the putting greens.

Q. Was the time off maybe a little bit of a blessing in disguise, motivation, too?

BYEONG HUN AN: For me, I couldn't wait to get out here again. Four months is a pretty long time, but at the same time, it was great because I got to spend a long time with my family. If I took a day off it wouldn't hurt because I can go play with my son and go to the theme park for a day. You know you have two months, three months to go.

Those little things help. I really like the four month off. It really gave me a lot of time to work on my golf so it was great overall.

Q. What's your son's favorite theme park in Orlando?

BYEONG HUN AN: I took him to Harry Potter World at Universal. He loved it. He doesn't ask for it every day. He loves Legoland. Little kid, right, but he's on the younger side to really like them. I probably like them more than he does.