An wins BMW PGA
An Byeong-hun romped to a memorable victory at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth on Sunday.
The South Korean carded a flawless seven under 65 on the final day for a six stroke win over Thongchai Jaidee and Miguel Angel Jimenez.
An began the final round tied for the lead with Francesco Molinari. He picked up birdies at the second and fourth while Molinari went backwards, his birdies eclipsed by three bogeys on the front nine.
But An made his move on the back nine, rolling in a birdie on the eleventh and a superb second shot on the par five 12th gave him a tap in eagle. Jaidee would then bogey the 13th, giving An a four shot cushion with five holes to play.
An kept up the momentum with two more birdies on the 15th and 17th to finish 21 under for the tournament, making sure of his maiden win on the European Tour.
“It’s like a fifth Major to me,” revealed the 23-year-old on europeantour.com.
“It’s the biggest title I have won and gets me into a lot of events. This is life-changing. I’m still really excited and over the moon right now. I wasn’t expecting this. I didn’t know that a win was this close. It came all of a sudden. I’ve been playing well all year but I never thought I would win this event.
“I played really well today. I was nervous at the start of the day but confident on every hole because I was hitting it well and putting nicely. I made some mistakes but being bogey-free I think is very good out here.
“It was great to go into the last hole with a six-shot lead and I love that I’m the first Asian to win this event. It’s great.”
The victory sees the South Korean catapult into the top 60 on the world rankings, gaining him access to the upcoming Open Championship and the US Open later in the year.
A hole-in-one on the 14th – the fifth of the week – by Chris Wood helped the Englishman finish on his own in fourth place on 13 under, followed by Molinari in fifth, leaving fans in the sports betting pleased.
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