Byeong Hun An defends women’s amateur who golf fans slammed for slow play 

Byeong Hun An defends Bailey Shoemaker’s slow play

After Shoemaker was hit by a torrent of criticism online for her slow play at Augusta National, Byeong Hun An took to X. He called for everybody to turn their attention to the tournament, who he thinks should have stepped in. 

An posted, “Hope she gets better soon. People should stop criticizing her. Criticize the tournament not giving her a penalty stroke.”

It’s worth noting that Shoemaker’s group wasn’t put on the clock during the event, nor did they find themselves behind the pace of play. Her playing partners also performed well, so the speed didn’t appear to affect them either.

But rules are rules, and there is absolutely an argument that Shoemaker shouldn’t have been allowed to compete if she isn’t able to take her shot in a reasonable amount of time.

Bailey Shoemaker explains her slow play at Augusta Women’s Open

Shoemaker, who is playing college golf at USC, spoke to Golf.com about her injury struggles, which led to her slow-play incident at Augusta National. She had surgery to repair nerve damage in her arm, and she said that she was at risk of losing all feeling in her hand last year:

“I’ve been battling injury for over a year now, and so I’ve got some things bugging me. But when you have nerve surgery, you aren’t in control. It doesn’t matter what my brain says or does. You think I wanna do it intentionally? Of course not.

“It was better today, and that was the worst one yesterday. Of course, it went viral. Clearly, you don’t see the rest of the round. You don’t see me at home working out five hours a day, going to rehab, waking up before practice to go to rehab. You don’t see what’s behind the scenes.”

She continued, “I put a lot of faith in USC and my coaches and trainers and whatnot. They got me to where I am today. I know I keep saying it and I sound like a broken record but a year ago I didn’t know if I’d be playing golf anymore.

“This was a pretty substantial injury, given it was my nerve and I’m happy to have motor function over my hand. I thought I was going to lose my hand basically. So that’s pretty scary to think about.

“To have control over my hand is nice for once, and just being out here playing is good. If anything, it was fuel. My dad has trained me to use that as fuel to ignite me a little bit, but I didn’t pay too much mind to it.

“I’m happy with where I am, and I’m making leaps and bounds in my health, and that’s all I really care about.”

It takes a strong mind to handle that level of criticism, so hopefully Shoemaker can make a full recovery and get back to swinging freely.