An Byeong-hun shoots career-low 61 to tie course record and hold Scottish Open lead
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Rory McIlroy, who is tied third after the first round of the Scottish Open, says he would rather retire from the sport than play on the LIV Golf circuit.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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NORTH BERWICK, Scotland – South Korea’s An Byeong-hun carded nine birdies to tie the course record with a nine-under 61 on Thursday at the Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland.
American Davis Riley finished at seven under, two back of An and one stroke ahead of Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy and Belgian Thomas Detry.
An, a three-time runner-up who has yet to claim a PGA Tour victory in 175 career starts, began play on the 10th and, with five birdies, hit the turn with a 30. His final putt for birdie on the par-three ninth, a 24-footer, left him with a PGA Tour career-low 61.
“I couldn’t play any better. I drove it well and hit it well and chipped it well and putted well. That’s a clean scorecard,” he said.
Riley was on fire leading off the afternoon wave. He birdied six of his first nine holes to make the turn with a 29, setting up a charge at An’s lead on the back nine. He birdied the par-five 10th to jump ahead of McIlroy and Detry, both of whom had reached the clubhouse with the morning wave.
Riley recorded a par on each of the final eight holes.
McIlroy held the lead for part of the first round on Thursday, surging to the top of the leaderboard on his 12th hole – No. 3 – with an eagle on the 630-yard par-five.
An, 31, missed an ace at the 14th and tapped in during a stretch of four consecutive birdies on his opening nine. He grabbed the lead for good on the par-five third with a chip to within three feet and the ensuing birdie putt to get to seven under. He is one month into a switch to a broomstick putter after discussing with fellow professionals Kim Si-woo and Adam Scott about the value of the change.
“I talked to other fellows who use the broomstick putter – Adam, Si-woo – asking the pros and cons about it, and spoke to my putting coach,” An said.
“We said, it looked good, felt good, and we are trying to get the hands out of it and that helps me a lot with the long putter.”
McIlroy, who had started five under after seven holes, was not lamenting a missed chance to throw up a lower number. He walked off the course pleased with his putting, confessing that he struggled with reads in practice rounds due to the slower pace of the links greens.
“I got off to a great start, a really fast start,” the four-time Major winner said.
“(Putting was) probably the one thing I was not worried about going into today. But more so like I was questioning... didn’t feel like I had maybe enough time to adjust to links greens, and I didn’t putt very well in the pro-am (Wednesday).”
Detry came within a whisker of an ace on the 17th, the eighth hole of his round, and wrapped up on the front nine with a pair of birdies at the eighth and ninth to pull even with McIlroy despite two bogeys.
“I was inches away from walking away with two cars today. But yeah, played some really good golf today,” he joked about the near miss on No. 17.
“Actually had a couple of big misses but every time I managed to get some great up-and-downs and keep going, like on my 16th hole, way right, and getting my ball on the fairway, wedge shot and good putt and it was amazing to finish birdie, birdie.”
Separately, architects of the proposed merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf have decided to scrap a provision prohibiting poaching from each other’s tours at the urging of the Department of Justice, multiple outlets reported on Thursday.
The New York Times was the first to report that regulators had concerns about the non-solicitation language between the Tour and the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the Saudi-funded money behind LIV.
The sides originally included the provision so as not to complicate the ongoing negotiations to complete the merger. However, neither side is worried about players jumping ship now, though LIV golfers are currently barred from the PGA Tour anyway, which is expected to change in future.
Not that it would have any bearing on McIlroy’s decision-making process, after he said he would rather retire from the sport than sign up for LIV Golf after proposals came to light to offer the former world No. 1 his own team on the breakaway circuit.
“If LIV Golf was the last place to play golf on earth, I would retire. That’s how I feel about it. I would play the Majors, but I’d be pretty comfortable,” said the 34-year-old. REUTERS, AFP
