Byeong Hun An Ties Course Record at Scottish Open

An, who played one year of college golf at Cal, has a two-stroke lead after one round

Former Cal golfer Byeong Hun An sank a long putt on his final hole to complete a round of 61 on Thursday, tying a course record in the first round of the Scottish Open.

An was among the first to finish his round, with a number of golfers still on the course. But An held the lead when he finished his round at the Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland.

He fired nine birdies with no bogeys to finish with a score of 9-under-par 61 on the par-70 course. The 31-year-old An barely missed scoring a hole-in-one on the 14th hole, and that came during a stretch in which he made four straight birdies on his opening nine.

Byeong Hun An shoots 61
PGA Tour

An holds the lead by himself after one round, two strokes ahead of Davis Riley, who shot a 7-under 63, and three shots ahead of Rory McIlroy and Thomas Detry, who are tied for third after shooting 6-under-par rounds of 64.

"I couldn't play any better," An said. "I drove it well and hit it well and chipped it well and putted well. That's a clean scorecard."

Here is a video of his final putt that enabled An to tie the course record:

An recently switched to a broomstick putter after speaking with fellow pro golfers Si Woo Kim and Adam Scott.

"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."

An played his only year of college golf at Cal (2010-2011) before turning pro in 2011. His Cal career ended on a sour note as he had to withdraw from the final round of stroke play in the NCAA team tournament because of illness and had to be taken to the hospital. With their prized freshman out, the Bears had to play the round a man down and did not advance.

He is currently ranked 131st in the world golf rankings and never won a PGA Tour event. However, he has been a runnerup three times in his career, and has two top-10 finishes in the 2022-23 season.

An became the youngest player ever to win the U.S. Amateur, when, at the age of 17, he defeated Ben Martin 7 and 5 in the 36-hole final at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in August 2009.

Former Cal golfer Max Homa is also competing in the Scottish Open, and he had a 4-under-par score of 66 in the first round, leaving him five shots off the lead.

Michael Kim, who also played his college golf at Cal, carded a 2-over-par 72 in the first round.

Among the other notable players in this event, Scottie Scheffler shot a 2-under-par 68, Rickie Fowler had a 3-under 67, and Jordan Spieth struggled to a 2-over 72.

Cover photo of Byeong Hun An by Jim Cowsert, USA TODAY Sports

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.