Ben An has had bigger wins in his career than this weekend’s triumph at the Genesis Championship in his native South Korea.
But has he had more meaningful ones? It’s hard to say.
There was An, striding up the 18th fairway at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club in South Korea and on the brink of a playoff win over fellow countryman Tom Kim. And there, off to the side of the 18th green, stood a figure who had never witnessed An claim a victory of any kind: His grandma.
An made his way up to the green, stared down a 6-footer for a tournament-clinching birdie, and drained it. He took a big deep breath as the customary caddie hugs progressed, looked to the sky, and then peered out greenside on the 18th, where his family stood waiting.
By the time An made it to them, the tears were welling up. First with his wife, Jamie, then to his parents, and then finally to his grandma, gray-haired and bespectacled.
As An wrapped his grandma in a hug, the tears really started to fall, dropping in big globs down his cheekbones. It was the rarest kind of moment of vindication for An — the opportunity to celebrate it in the presence of most of your loved ones.
“I mean, — yeah — I still get emotional about it,” An said, wiping tears from his eyes, in a post-round interview with the DP World Tour. “I didn’t think I was going to get that emotional after I won.”
The reason for the tears, he explained, was his grandmother. Though she had lived with An for many of the formative years of his golfing life, she had never witnessed him hoist a trophy before. All the years of golf — and the many successes — had come with Grandma watching from the sidelines.
“I saw my mom, I saw my grandma. Yeah, my grandma lived with me for 10 years, 12 years in the U.S., and she is my biggest supporter,” an said. “It’s actually her first time seeing me lift a trophy in person. My parents have seen me win tournaments, my wife saw me win on the Korn Ferry Tour, but my grandma has never actually seen me win a tournament in my life, so that was very emotional.”
You can watch the full interview of An’s touching interaction — and his subsequent interview — below on the DP World Tour’s social channels.