Byeong adds to strong Asian presence at Tour Championship on his event debut

Korea’s Byeong Hun An will make his debut at the Tour Championship this week and he adds to an ever-expanding list of golfers from Asia or with Asian ties who will be in the field for FedEx Cup Playoffs finale at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta this week.

The 32-year-old An is amongst nine first-timers in the elite 30-man field who will vie for the PGA Tour’s ultimate prize where the FedEx Cup winner on Sunday will earn $25 million in bonus money. A total of $100 million is at stake. Also in the field are Indian-Americans Sahith Theegala and Akshay Bhatia, and Indo-Briton Aaron Rai.

While Theegala is seeded 11th, Bhatia is 13th and Rai is 26th for the Tour Championships where world number one and Paris Olympic champion Scottie Scheffler is the top seed and starts with a score of 10-under. Theegala will be 3-under, Bhatia 2-under and Rai at level par in the event’s staggered scoring format that rewards standings on the final FedEx Cup list.

“Getting to the Tour Championship was one of my goals of the season. I get to play this for the first time …. I feel great thinking I achieved one of my goals,” An told the PGA Tour.

For An, the financial rewards that come with good play is not a priority. Since making his name as the youngest winner at the US Amateur in 2009, he has embarked on a journey to be the best golfer that he can be, and the ride has taken him into unchartered territories during his early European Challenge Tour days before 
finding his eventual place in golf’s promised land.

“I don't really have expectations,” said An, who registered five top-10s this season including a runner-up finish at the Sony Open in Hawaii. “It (golf) doesn't owe me anything. There’s a fine line between expecting something to happen for your goals. Of course, everybody gets upset when you hit a bad shot and it’s because of expectations. So, I don’t expect anything. I just get out there and try to play good golf.

“If there's such a thing as mental improvements, I think it has gotten a little better. The technique has become better as I’ve worked pretty hard at it. That's why I'm seeing consistent golf over the last year.

“What gives me the edge is I think it's my talent because I'm not the hardest worker out here. I see so many guys who have worked harder than me. Yes, I do work hard, harder now. But when I was young, I was never the hardest working golfer. But as I get older, I guess it’s a little harder to keep that talent out.”

Fellow-Korean Sungjae Im will be making his sixth straight appearance at East Lake while Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, a two-time winner this season, starts in third place on 7-under and three strokes behind Scheffler on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the left-handed Bhatia is weighing the use of a Paradym Ai Smoke “mini driver” at East Lake alongside his Callaway Rogue ST driver. “I think there’s a good chance (I’m switching into the mini driver) this week,” the 22-year-old said on the PGA Tour website.

“If I have restricted start lines, I can draw a driver, but if I have this mini driver to where I can turn it a lot easier, then it’s a nice option.

“I can hit (my hybrid) 260 yards – and 3-wood for me can either be really good, or I can hit it off the heel one day, or I can get a hot pull. It’s just very inconsistent for me. So the mini driver gives me more options; it's faster, but it spins a little more, so the consistency of the ball flight is tighter, and that’s what I need.”