[Interview] Ahyeon Ahn: "Distance and Accuracy Are My Strengths... Aiming for Rookie of the Year on the Pro Stage"

12th Asia Business Daily Honam Cup Junior Golf Championship
Girls' Division Winner Ahyeon Ahn: "Aiming for Rookie of the Year on the Pro Stage"

"I worked on correcting my somewhat shaky driver shots and focused on improving my precision. I want to build competitiveness on the professional stage going forward," she said.

Ahyeon Ahn (third year at Hamyeol High School), who won first place in the girls' division at the 12th Asia Economy Honam Junior Golf Championship, is taking a commemorative photo at the awards ceremony on the 12th. Photo by Bohyun Song

Ahyeon Ahn, a senior at Hamyeol High School, claimed the top spot in the girls' division at the 12th Asia Business Daily Honam Cup Junior Golf Championship, held at Le Onette Country Club in Gokseong-gun, South Jeolla Province.

In this tournament, Ahn shot a 72 in the first round and a 69 in the final round, lifting the winner's trophy with a total score of 141 (3 under par). This is one of the valuable achievements that came as a result of diligently building her skills over about seven years, since she first picked up a golf club in sixth grade.

Her sharp feel for the game, including recording an eagle on both days, was a major driving force behind her victory at this tournament. On the first day, Ahn made an eagle on the 5th hole of the IN course, and on the second day, she captured another eagle on the 2nd hole of the IN course.

She commented, "My tee shot on the 10th hole went deep to the left, but when it bounced off a tree and came back, I felt luck was on my side. On the second day, when I saw a butterfly land on the ball before the eagle, I was sure I would get lucky, and as it turned into an eagle, the good momentum continued throughout the round."

The Le Onette Country Club, where the tournament was held, features narrow fairways that require precise strategy. After struggling with tee shots early on, Ahn overcame the crisis thanks to her coach's encouragement.

"I worked with my coach to study course management strategies, and he continuously gave me confidence," she said. "Thanks to that, I was able to shake off my nerves, swing with conviction, and send the ball in the right direction."

Her grueling training process to overcome past weaknesses also stood out. Since she first started playing golf, Ahn possessed powerful drives exceeding 240 meters, but her lack of accuracy due to inconsistency was a weakness. To overcome this, she dedicated herself to practice and ultimately achieved both long distance and accuracy, turning her previous weakness into a perfect strength. Furthermore, her constant work on difficult trouble shots to improve her precision was also notable in this tournament.

With her transition to the professional level set for next year, she expressed her ambition: "Winning on the pro stage would be great, but more than anything, I want to win Rookie of the Year, which you can only get once in your life."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.