Byeong Hun An is far from the first player to see past comments come back to haunt him after joining LIV Golf.
The likes of Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau pledged their allegiance to the PGA Tour before going on to jump to LIV Golf.
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And in the wake of Byeong Hun An‘s decision to join LIV ahead of the 2026 season, past comments were uncovered in which An stated that he would not leave the PGA Tour without receiving a significant amount of money.
An made the statement in December 2023. So it is no surprise that some have defended his decision to become the new captain of Korean Golf Club.
Byeong Hun An has been defended over his 2023 comments about LIV Golf
In fairness, An’s move to LIV makes a lot of sense. The 34-year-old finished 77th in the FedEx Cup last season, so he would have had work to do to play in any signature events in 2026.
He also has the somewhat unfortunate honour of being the player to make the most money in PGA Tour history without ever winning following Tommy Fleetwood‘s Tour Championship victory. He has made more than $21.5 million during his time Stateside.
LIV has an opportunity to become the best global tour. So it is understandable that An would be keen to lead the rebranded Korean Golf Club at this stage of his career.
But there seems to be a desire among some to sweep what he has previously said about LIV under the carpet.
December 2023 was a high point for LIV
It is valid to say that An’s opinion on LIV has obviously changed.
Yes, it would be disingenuous to claim that An said he would never go to LIV in that post on X in December 2023.
But it certainly does not look good for LIV when they sign a player who previously admitted that money would be the one factor to convince him to leave the PGA Tour.
LIV Golf has not kicked on since December 2023. In fact, that was arguably the month where the league was at its strongest.
It was, of course, in December that LIV confirmed the signing of Jon Rahm. At that stage, it appeared that the PGA Tour would have no choice but to agree a deal with the PIF.
He may still have changed his mind on LIV. But what those defending An seem to be ignoring is that more recent comments he has made do their argument no favours whatsoever.
And those comments have come in the last couple of weeks.
An’s comments after joining LIV are much more damaging to the league
Speaking to Today’s Golfer about his decision, An suggested that he has never watched LIV.
He did, admittedly, note how happy some of his friends on LIV appeared to be. He also insisted that he was content with his decision to leave the PGA Tour.
And in an interview with Bunkered, he was brutally honest about his initial thoughts on joining LIV.
“There were no real talks, there were some rough drafts out there after the [2025] season, but nothing that I was interested in,” he said. “I was kind of meh about it and then literally three weeks ago it started to get into the real talk. It all happened very quickly.”
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There is no question that those defending An will suggest that he was only underwhelmed about the prospect of signing with LIV until he had the full picture.
But it is a damning indictment regarding where LIV now finds itself that a decent PGA Tour player felt so indifferent about the breakaway league.
LIV is supposed to be ‘golf but louder’. It is meant to be brash; taking a stale product and shaking it up beyond recognition.
Yet, within five years of starting up, LIV have signed a player who has admitted to not watching the product and initially felt ‘meh’ about the idea of signing at the end of last season.
Those comments were not made in December 2023. They were made in the week his move was announced.
It is not a criticism of An. He clearly feels that he has an opportunity to make a bigger impact in his home country – and he will be paid even more handsomely.
But it is hard to argue that his decision is any sort of a win for LIV given what he has said about the league not just two years ago, but also on his way through the door.
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