An Pulls off Career-Changing Victory at BMW PGA Championship


South Korea's Byeong-Hun An fired a closing 7-under 65 to win the BMW PGA Championship. The tournament, a major on the European Tour, concluded Sunday at the Wentworth Club in England.

An, a 23-year-old graduate of the Challenge Tour, posted a flawless final round that included five birdies and an eagle on the par-5 12th hole to finish at 21-under 267, six strokes ahead of Spain's Miguel Angel Jiménez and Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee, who shot 67 and 69, respectively. Aided by a hole-in-one, alone in fourth at 275 was England's Chris Wood (66).

An's 72-hole total set a new record by two strokes, a fact not lost on the former University of California player, who also became the first Asian to win the flagship event in Europe. "It's like a fifth major to me. It's the biggest title I have won and gets me into a lot of events. This is life-changing," he told the European Tour's website.

"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."

An, the youngest winner at the U.S. Amateur when he took the title in 2009 at age 17, began Sunday tied for the lead with Francesco Molinari. The 32-year-old Italian couldn't keep up with the youngster, posting a 74 to drop into fifth at 276.

Sharing sixth at 277 were Ireland's Shane Lowry (69) and Tommy Fleetwood (72) , while tied for eighth at 10-under were France's Julien Quesne (68) and Sweden's Alex Noren (68). Spain's Alejandro Canizares took solo 10th at 279 following a 68.

An's win means that he could move into the top-50 in the World Golf Ranking, putting him in position to qualify automatically for next month's U.S. Open at Chambers Bay in Washington. His six-shot margin of victory was the largest at the BMW PGA Championship since Bernhard Langer won by six in 1993.

Wood had the shot of the day when he aced the 178-yard, par-3 14th with a 7-iron, winning a new BMW i8 automobile. "All the players look on the 14th on Tuesday when we have a practice round and we think, 'Wouldn't it be nice, a BMW i8?' You never think that it's going to happen to you," said the 27-year-old.

"I hit a great shot and it was a bit of a delayed reaction because you hear two cheers; one sounded like it just missed and the second one it went in."

For all the scores, visit http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2015/tournamentid=2015038/news/newsid=257551.html.