Surrey, England (SportsNetwork.com) - Rookie Byeong Hun An fired an impressive 7-under 65 in Sunday's final round and the South Korean rolled to a 6-shot victory at the BMW PGA Championship.
An, who shared the third-round lead with Francesco Molinari, became the first player ever to finish at 20-under-par or better at this event. An ended the week at 21-under 267 for his first career victory on the European Tour.
"It's going to take a while, I think," An said when asked how long it will take for this win to sink in. "It's definitely the biggest event I've won, especially since I turned pro. It's definitely gotten me in a lot of events and I'm very happy with it."
Miguel Angel Jimenez, the 2008 champion, notched his second straight tie for second. He shot a 5-under 67 and ended at 15-under 273 alongside Thongchai Jaidee (69) at Wentworth.
Chris Wood made a hole-in-one during his final round en route to a 6-under 66. He finished alone in fourth at minus-13.
Molinari, who was looking to go wire-to-wire for the win after also holding the first- and second-round lead, struggled to a 2-over 74 and finished in fifth at 12-under 202.
An began his ascension up the leaderboard early and he never looked back. While Molinari bogeyed the first to give the 23-year-old the outright lead, An drained a 15-footer for birdie at the second to take a 2-shot lead.
He got up-and-down for birdie on the par-5 fourth to move to minus-16. He birdied that hole all four days.
It took a while for An's next birdie as he rattled off six straight pars from No. 5. Ahead by one shot as he made the turn, An tapped in from three feet for birdie on 11 to go up by two once again.
The nail in the coffin came at the par-5 12th when An nearly holed out for an albatross. He tapped in for eagle to go up four. An had birdied that hole the first three days.
Three holes later, An had another tap-in birdie on 15 to get to minus-20. Another gain on 17 gave him a 6-shot lead and the South Korean ended with a 2- putt par at the last for his win.
"I played really well today. Shot was good, had all the confidence going in the last couple holes, too. It was great to go into the last hole with a 6- shot lead. Especially walking off the green I was like 'OK, I've done it."
Jimenez never really threatened the lead on Sunday, but a big back nine saw him finish tied for second. After opening with seven straight pars, Jimenez rolled in two birdies in three holes at eight and 10.
A trio of birdies from 13 got Jimenez to minus-15 and he then traded a bogey at 16 for a birdie at 17.
Jaidee pulled to within one of An's lead by making a trio of birdies from No. 4, but he played the final 12 holes at even-par. Ten pars, a birdie on 12 and a bogey on 13 closed out Jaidee's round.
Wood had seven birdies, three bogeys and a hole-in-one at the par-3 14th en route to one of the better rounds of the day.
Molinari's fate seemed sealed from the start as he dropped a shot at the first. Despite pouring in back-to-back birdies on four and five to get within one of An, three bogeys at seven, nine and 11 dropped the Italian well back.
A birdie on 12 got Molinari back on track a bit and he traded a bogey at 14 for a birdie on 15. A double-bogey at 16 was followed by a birdie on 17 before a par at the last ended Molinari's tough day.
NOTES: An became the fifth player to win in their first appearance at this event ... An was the youngest U.S. Amateur winner ever in 2009 at 17 years old ... He picked up a win on the Challenge Tour at the Rolex Trophy last year and received his tour card after finishing in the top-15 on the Challenge Tour money list ... Trevor Fisher, Jr. also had a hole-in-one on No. 2. The two aces on Sunday made it five holes-in-one on the week, setting a new tournament record ... Jimenez also tied for second at last week's Open de Espana ... An earned 833,330 euros with this victory ... Next up on the European Tour is the Irish Open next week, where Mikko Ilonen won by a shot last season.
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