New LIV golfer Ben An relying on AI to acclimate to global schedule

Byeong Hun An is new to the whole LIV Golf experience. And a new lifestyle apparently calls for the use of some new technology.

An, also known as Ben An, was one of the new additions to the 2026 LIV roster and the captain of the newly rebranded Korean Golf Club. Everyone on the four-man team has Korean heritage (Danny Lee was born in South Korea but competes under the New Zealand flag).

"We're all good friends, and hopefully we can play good golf," An said Monday at an introductory press conference. "I'm very excited for the season. It's my first year; feels like the first school year."

An pointed out that Korean Golf Club will spend a lot of time together, including travel. The season opens this week in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the LIV schedule features events in Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. That includes the second year of LIV Golf Korea, an event technically unconfirmed on the schedule but expected sometime in May.

An, who previously competed on the PGA Tour and spent most of his playing season in the United States, said he's relying on artificial intelligence to plan his travel now.

"I use ChatGPT and Gemini," he said. "I put in my flight schedule and everything, what time of day we're playing because it's set every week because it's a shotgun. I try to utilize that a lot because I don't know much about how to get my body ready.

"Especially this week, I put in all the flights and numbers and everything, so it's like, ‘All right, sleep at this time, try to do this and that to maximize the performance on the golf course at 6:05 p.m.' That's what I did, and I'll probably do that again the next couple of events because we'll be go different time zones, and with the longer flights, it helps, and with the physio on our team. We'll probably utilize that a lot because we've got the resources and all the info is out there, so I'll try to use that as much as I can and hopefully get my body ready for the tournament days."

An, 34, was best known for being the youngest winner of the U.S. Amateur in 2009 at age 17. His world ranking rose as high as No. 22 in late 2024 after he won the Genesis Championship in his home country, beating countryman Tom Kim in a playoff at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea.

An never won on the PGA Tour, but tied for fourth at the Baycurrent Classic in Japan this past October for his third top-10 finish of 2025.

--Field Level Media