S. Korean golfers off to solid start in 1st round

An Byeong-hun of South Korea hits his shot during the first round of the men’s Olympic golf tournament in Rio, Thursday. / Yonhap

An Byeong-hun shoots 3-under 68 to share 9th

By Kim Jeong-kyoo

As hoped, An Byeong-hun, 25, and Wang Jeung-hun, 21, posted under-par scores to start decently in the opening round of men’s golf at the Rio Olympics on Thursday.

On the par-71, 7,128-yard Olympic Golf Course, An completed the first round with a three-under 68, including seven birdies and four bogies. He placed ninth among 60 golfers, five strokes behind leader Marcus Fraser of Australia at eight-under. He also had the tournament’s first bogey on the first hole and first birdie on the following hole. Wang tied for 17th with a one-under 70 -- he birdied the third, 12th and 16th holes, double-bogeying the 13th.

As the International Golf Federation (IGF) announced, Adilson da Silva hit the opening shot in the Olympic Games, to which golf is returning after 112 years. Da Silva is the only golfer from Brazil. Canada’s Graham DeLaet was second to hit his shot off the tee at the Games. Canada is the defending champion. The country’s George Lyon won the gold medal in the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis. An, the 2015 European Tour Rookie of the Year and a former U.S. Amateur champion, banged his tee shot third. The IGF said An’s Olympic heritage had prompted it to choose him to play in the first group.

An’s father is the South Korean men’s table tennis coach, An Jae-hyung, who won a bronze medal in the men’s doubles at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, while his mother, Jiao Zhimin of China, bagged two table tennis medals, including a silver and a bronze, at the same Olympics.

Despite a slight tinge of nervousness, An hit a good opening tee shot, landing his ball on the fairway. He made good second and third shots, but unexpectedly three-putted to bogey the first hole. The pressure and a lapse of concentration saw him hit the putt too hard and it lipped out.

However, he had a good tee shot on the second. After hitting his approach shot near to the hole, An smiled at his caddie. Happily, An had a consecutive birdie on the third, after hitting his approach shot near to the cup. He went to the par-3 fourth hole at one-under. An, hitting his tee shot onto the green, rolled his birdie putt near the cup to par the hole.

On the par-5 fifth, An reached the green in two shots. He putted it close from a distance, collecting another birdie. After making easy par on the sixth and seventh, he birdied the par-3 eighth and the par-4 ninth. He finished the front nine at a four-under 31 with one bogey and five birdies.

On the back nine, when the wind blew harder, he bogeyed the 10th, 14th and 17th, and birdied the 13th and 18th holes. His three-under 68 on Thursday was a good start. The only conspicuous flaw in his play was the putting yips he suffered a couple of times. He missed a short par putt on the par-3 17th. An hit 10 of 13 fairways and 15 greens in regulation. His average driving distance was 274.5 yards.

“A three-under is not too bad,” An said. “It’s critical to have a good start. You need to have under-par rounds. Having no wind on the front nine was an advantage to me.”

Wang also hit his opening tee shot solidly to the middle of the fairway. Despite his strong first putt that passed the hole, he made the clutch putt to par. He also made a good start with his one-under 70.

Wang averaged roughly 280 yards off the tee and hit all 13 fairways. He hit 13 greens in regulation. Wang had his first birdie on the par-4 third, birdying again the par-4 12th. But he lost both shots with a double-bogey on the next hole, the par-4 13th. However, he finished the opening round at one-under par with a birdie on the par-4 16th.

Wang said: “I’m a bit disappointed with the score as I hit the ball really well.” Wang lamented that he had hit his three-iron into the rough on the 13th to double-bogey the hole.

Sweden’s Henrik Stenson, the highest-ranked player in the Olympic field, tied for second with a five-under 66, three strokes behind Fraser. Stenson collected six birdies and one bogey.

Kim Jeong-kyoo is a Korea Times golf columnist. He can be reached at kimjstar@hanmail.net.