Seoul, Korea: Fifteen-year-old amateur An Seong-hyeon is the surprise early leader at the GS Caltex Maekyung Open.
The Korean national team player fired a first-round five-under-par 66 at Namseoul Country Club for the clubhouse lead on a weather-affected day, when lightning and rain caused significant delays.
A total of 72 players were unable to complete their rounds and will return early Friday morning in what is the Asian Tour’s first visit of the year to Korea.
Eom Jae-woong from Korea is in outright second place after a 67. His compatriots Kim Bae-kjun, Lee Dong-hwan, Kim Jae-ho and Park Yeong-gyu are next best placed with 68s.
An was in the second group out, at 6.41 am, on tee 10 and was in the lead on four-under after 11 holes before a nearly four-hour delay caused by lightning brought the event to a standstill. Play was stopped at 9.36 am and resumed at 1.30 pm.
The delay did little to stop An’s momentum. He had five birdies and dropped one shot before the break and when he returned he finished off his round with a birdie and six pars. Showing maturity beyond his years he got up and down for pars on seven and eight before narrowly missing a four-foot birdie putt on his last after another excellent chip.
He said: “It’s my third appearance this year. I’m always nervous every time I come out and today was no different. I just wanted to play my best and I think I did a good job. I want to play harder in the second round to get through qualifying and do my best in the main draw.”
An has been making waves over the past few years.
In 2022 he became the youngest player to make the cut on the Korean PGA Tour, when he was aged 13 years and four months at the Bizplay-Electronic times Open.
And last year he made history by becoming the first Korean to win The R&A Junior Open – a title won by American Patrick Reed in 2006. He was also joint fifth in the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC) in Japan and runner-up in the 2024 Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation Junior Championship in the Philippines.
An, who was also a member of the Korean team that placed joint fourth in last year’s Asia-Pacific Amateur Team Championship for the Nomura Cup in Vietnam, said he has drawn inspiration from this year’s Masters champion.
An said: “I've been watching Rory McIlroy’s Grand Slam recently. I’ve been thinking a lot about how I want to be like him. It’s good to see that even when you fail, you keep trying and succeed.”
When asked if he felt his game recently had not been his best he responded: “My shots have been a little shaky lately. I've been struggling to get a grip. My tee shots and iron shots have not been going the way I wanted and I was missing a lot. I've been working a lot on my iron shots, and it is starting to work.”
An is attempting to become only the third amateur to win one of Korea’s most prestigious titles, following Korean Kim Joo-heun in 1982, the inaugural year of the event, and New Zealand’s Eddie Lee in 2002, the year it was also played at Namseoul.