Who Is Narin-An? The 28YO South Korean Superstar of LPGA

Narin An was born on January 5th, 1996, in Yeok, South Korea. Talking about her golf career, An turned professional in 2014, and joined the Dream Tour in 2015. The South Korean golfer is making headlines, as she has been performing well at the 2024 Meijer LPGA Classic. She does not know how to speak English and is fluent in Korean.

She qualified for the Korean LPGA Tour in 2017. That year, she finished 43rd on the money list, and had the somewhat same success in 2018, finishing 47th, and in 2019, she finished at 36th place. The 28-year-old has never won an LPGA event, but this could change soon! Let us get to know her a bit better.

2021: Narin An’s one of the best years career-wise

Narin An’s career-best performance on the LPGA Tour was in the 2021 BMW Ladies Championship, where she finished at T3. After the final round, she failed to make it to the leader’s spot, which was a two-way tie between Jin Young Ko (who eventually won) and Hee Jeong Lim, by five shots. An scored an overall score of 17 under, including a total of a whopping 24 birdies, just 4 bogeys, and a double bogey.

The year 2021 was a great year for Narin An from a career perspective, as she earned medalist honors in the LPGA Q-Series to get an LPGA Tour membership for the 2022 season. Even on the KLPGA Tour, she got some amazing feats in 2021 that included two runner-up performances at the NH Investment & Securities Ladies Championship and the Dongbu Construction KOREIT Championship.

Although An could not win any events at the KLPGA Tour in 2021, she won two in 2020, which were the Autech Carrier Championship and the Hana Financial Group Championship. Even in the last couple of years, she has achieved some big milestones.

Narin An’s feats since her rookie year in 2022

If we look at 2022, Narin An made 20 cuts out of the 26 events that she played. That year, she earned $646,686 and finished 47th on the money list which helped her secure her membership for the coming season. She had five top-10 finishes that year on the LPGA Tour. She also managed to get a third position in the JTBC Classic by Barbasol. She scored 16 under 272 and lost the two-way tied leader spot by just one stroke.

Talking about her best performance in 2023, she recorded a solo fourth place at the LPGA Drive-On Championship. She scored 18 under (67, 67, 69, and 67) and once again missed the leader spot by just a small margin (2 strokes). Her recent performance in the ShopRite LPGA Classic 2024, just a few days before the commencement of the Meijer LPGA Classic, was also great as she ended at T6 with a score of 10 under par.

An has been a bit unfortunate on the greens, as she has missed the winner’s spot by a marginal number of strokes so many times. Another addition to the professional’s achievement list is getting to play in the 2024 US Women’s Open.

How did An feel after the US Women’s Open 2024?

Narin An finished at T58 at Lancaster this year. This defeat did not make her disheartened, as evident from the caption of the Instagram post she shared after the conclusion of the major. The caption said, “See you next year US OPEN 🔥.” Her best performance at the major has been the T30th finish she had at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in 2023.

An’s optimistic behavior is a lesson for everyone who could not perform well in the major to focus on their future prospects and not dwell on the past. According to the Rolex Women’s World Rankings for the current year, An got her worst rank at 116, but currently, she is at her best rank, 78.

Do you think Narin An will be able to get her maiden LPGA Tour glory at 2024 Meijer LPGA Classic? Let us know in the comments below.