Ben An’s Unfortunate Series of Events: A Breakdown of His Second Round at Players Championship

Ben An was at the beach, the sun was out, it was Friday, and he was done with his job for the week. He was peachy.

Feisty, too.

Hours earlier, he was presumably discouraged. An had started his Players Championship respectably, shooting a three-under 69, and he was tied for 21st after the first round. But then Friday came, and golf balls were lost.

Second Round Struggles

In order during his second round, An went through a series of unfortunate events:

• Double-bogeyed the 387-yard, par-4 4th after hitting his second shot into the water left of the green.
• Double-bogeyed the 386-yard, par-4 6th. However, he did manage to make three birdies on his front nine, and he was one-over for the day going into the 10th hole.
• Double-bogeyed the 408-yard, par-4 10th after taking a penalty stroke from his tee shot.
• Parred the 566-yard, par-5 11th after hitting his second shot into the water on the right side of the green.
• Bogeyed the 375-yard, par-4 12th after taking a penalty stroke from his tee shot.
• Bogeyed the 489-yard, par-4 14th and the 447-yard, par-5 15th.
• Quadruple-bogeyed the 147-yard, par-3 17th after hitting two consecutive shots into the water on the famous island hole.

An managed to sandwich two birdies around the seven on the 17th, but it was not enough. The damage was ugly. An shot an eight-over 80, with six penalty strokes, five of which came on his back nine. He finished two rounds tied for 120th, a drop of a whopping 99 spots from the day before.

An’s Response on Twitter

Despite the disappointing round, An remained composed. He even took the time to log on to Twitter, where he received both negative and positive messages. He responded in kind:

“You laughing at this round today?! Me too,” wrote one troll.

An replied about a half-hour later: “Of course. Couldn’t have played better.”

“Great round today. Another miss cut,” wrote another troll.

An replied about 20 minutes later: “You must have mistaken me for some other Korean player. This is my first miss cut in a few months…”

“You are terrible at golf,” wrote a third troll.

An agreed five minutes later: “I agree. It was terrible golf today.”

Another response was perhaps his best.

Wrote the troll: “If one hour after you miss a cut you are on Twitter getting after it with fans, therein lies the problem.”

An replied about a half-hour later: “What?”

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):

What was Ben An’s performance in the second round of the Players Championship?

Ben An struggled in the second round, finishing with a score of eight-over 80 and dropping 99 spots in the rankings.

How many penalty strokes did Ben An receive during his second round?

Ben An received a total of six penalty strokes during his second round.

How did Ben An respond to the trolls on Twitter?

Ben An remained composed and responded to the trolls with humor and self-awareness.