Fansided

Pro golfer chose golf because he’s not athletic enough for ping pong

By Cody Williams

Credit: European Tour (YouTube)
Credit: European Tour (YouTube) /
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Pro golfer Byeong-hun An chose the sport because he’s not athletic enough to play ping-pong.

Byeon-hun An was playing among some huge veteran names at the European Tour’s BMW PGA Championship last weekend when he was supplanting Francisco Molinari and holding off Miguel Angel Jimenez on his way to winning the title that Rory McIlroy hoisted last year:

This isn’t the first taste of big-time success for the South Korean. People in the golfing world undoubtedly started taking note of the golfer when he won the U.S. Amateur Championship in 2009 at the age of 17.

Now 23 years old, An won the tournament he called the fifth major in the sport of golf. However, he might not even be playing golf had he been born a bit more athletic.

An is the son of Jae-hyung An and Jiao Zhimin. Both parents medaled in the 1988 Olympics playing table tennis. An says he considers his parents to be his role models, but wasn’t able to take up the sport that his parents played because of his physical stature. In an interview with ESPN, An said, “I took up golf because I’m not athletic enough for table tennis—I’m too slow and too big.”

That obviously doesn’t speak highly of the athletic prowess golfers possess, but then again the stomachs hanging over the slacks of many of the players don’t do that perception any favors.

Hearing someone isn’t athletic enough to play ping-pong professionally is a humorous notion at first; but Olympic-level table tennis is pure insanity, a sport many other professional athletes wouldn’t be quick enough to handle.

Even with that, it’s interesting in the light of recent comments from Rory McIlroy that An would make this declaration about his athleticism. McIlroy said recently that the popularity of golf has suffered to a degree because professional goflfers need to work out more. That’s an interesting notion when you consider the fact that two of the world’s most popular golfers in McIlroy and Tiger Woods both frequent the gym to the point of obvious results.

Choosing golf over table tennis is turning out to be a profitable choice for An, though. He has the amateur championship to his name and the win this past weekend paid off in a big way for him. He moved into the top 60 in the world rankings while also earning him entry into the U.S. Open and Open Championship this year.

H/T to For The Win

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