After Byeong-Hun An explicitly complained about his frequent early tee time placements, the PGA Tour heard him loud and clear.
An is listed to launch off the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club on Thursday with a 6:45 a.m. tee time. However, with that being the fourth time in the last eight tournaments that he's had to break out his driver at the break of dawn, he colorfully voiced his displeasure.
"Never asked for it and I f****** hate it," An tweeted Tuesday before taking it down and tweeting, "Had to delete the tweet because of the f bomb. i should have said 'i truly hate it.'"
When people who'd love to golf for a living were quick to criticize Hun An, he defended his complaint.
The last time the 29-year-old had a Day 1 tee time in the afternoon was the Valero Texas Open in April. Since then, his latest tee time was 8:15 a.m. (Palmetto Championship) aside from the Charles Schwab Challenge where he teed off at 11:10 a.m. In his last 15 events, seven times he has teed off at 7:22 a.m. or earlier in the first and second rounds.
However, on Wednesday, An tweeted that the Tour realized his point.
Many were still quick to jump on An saying he has a first-world problem. But An highlighted some salient points on why he shouldn't, or should, always be the one on the Tour setting his alarm clock for the wee hours of the morning.
There hasn't been a lot of winning in An's career. He is currently ranked 141st in the world after not faring better than 35th since finishing T-8 at The American Express in late January. Since he became the youngest-ever U.S. Amateur winner in August 2009, he's never won on the Tour but has 18 top-10 finishes.
But An teeing off fully rested more often may give his fans in his native South Korea a reason to stay up late, or wake up early, to finally see him win.
Until then, he's still slated to tee off the Rocket Mortgage Classic at sunrise. However, now that he got his feelings off his chest he may be able to sleep better at night, giving him the rest he craves.