Golf is a game of inches.
Byeong Hun An found that out the hard way during the third round of the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges.
After chipping in for birdie on the par-4 10th hole to tie the lead, An pulled his tee shot at the par-4 11th way left and into the trees. He had a gap that would allow him to punch out and give himself a chance to save par, but his ball was nestled into some thick brush.
As An swung the club, the foliage grabbed the face and sent the ball left of its intended line. The ball ricocheted off a tree and deeper into the woods.
After his tee shot found the woods on No. 11, Ben An's second shot went further into the woods. He took a drop into the 16th fairway.
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 19, 2019
He finished the hole with a triple bogey, going from co-leader to 3 shots back of THE CJ CUP lead. pic.twitter.com/5mLrmZuyJg
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After calling a rules official, An opted to take an unplayable, going backwards to the 16th hole, eventually dropping on one of the forward tee boxes. He played his next shot, his fourth, over the trees and into the rough between the left greenside bunker and the green.
From there, he failed to get up and down before tapping in a putt for triple bogey. The triple dropped him from 14 under to 11 under, three shots back of leader Justin Thomas.
An birdied two of his next three holes after the triple, but a closing double at the par-5 18th left An with a third-round, 1-over 73 and dropped him five shots off the pace.
“It was OK today apart from the two holes, I guess,” An said. “It was really disappointing to make the triple there [at 11], but I bounced back with a couple birdies. Overall, those two holes just destroyed my day.”