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Koreans struggle in 1st round of 2015 U.S. Open

June 18, 2015

An Byeong-hun, of South Korea, hits out of the bunker on the 18th hole during a practice round for the U.S. Open golf tournament at Chambers Bay on Wednesday, June 17, 2015 in University Place, Wash. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

By Brian Han

There are two South Korean professionals in the 2015 U.S. Open field at Chambers Bay Golf Club in University Place, Wa.

And just like many of the other players navigating their way across the course’s treacherous terrain, both An Byeong-hun and Baek Seuk-hyun had trouble finding any consistency during the first round on Thursday.

An most recently put himself on the map with a win at the 2015 BMW Championship pushing him to world No. 50 automatically qualifying him for the major championship.

He carded a 3-over 73 after making five bogeys and two birdies. His opening round score puts him at tied-for-112th.

Baek on the other hand earned a spot the hard way by going through rounds and rounds of qualifiers.

The 24-year-old turned in a 4-over 74 as he sits at tied-for-123.

World No. 22 Kevin Na showed a little bit more promise.

The Korean American had a roller coaster of a round with four birdies and four bogeys to turn in an even-par 70. He is currently tied for 34th.

The course is rewarding the most creative rather than the most powerful players although Dustin Johnson sits atop the leaderboard with Henrik Stenson at 5-under.

The architecture sports many bowled greens as well as inverted bowl areas with dry firm surfaces meaning that the quality of shots can be drastically altered by mere inches of the landing spot.

Johnson displayed one of a few of brilliant shots on the 218-yard par 3 17th.

The world No. 7 hit a bunker shot far left and at least 20 feet past his target only to see it ride a hill back down and careen back towards the hole. He made his putt to save par.