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

The Modern Athlete’s Dilemma: A New Chapter for Byeong Hun An

In the world of professional golf, a sport steeped in tradition and the quiet mastery of club and ball, a new competitive advantage is emerging not from a new swing coach or a revolutionary driver, but from the silent, complex world of algorithms and data points. Byeong Hun “Ben” An, the latest high-profile talent to join the globetrotting LIV Golf tour, finds himself at the nexus of this evolution. As he embarks on a schedule that crisscrosses continents with punishing frequency, An is turning to a revolutionary new partner to manage the immense physiological and mental strain: artificial intelligence. His decision to lean on AI to acclimate to a relentless global calendar signals a paradigm shift, transforming the age-old battle against fatigue and jet lag into a calculated, data-driven science. This isn’t just about a golfer trying a new app; it’s a look into the future of athletic preparation, where peak performance is no longer just about practice on the range, but about optimizing the human machine 24/7, with technology as the ultimate caddie.

Forging a New Path: An’s Leap to the LIV Golf Frontier

To understand the significance of An’s technological approach, one must first appreciate the magnitude of his career transition. The move to LIV Golf is more than a change of employer; it’s an entry into a different competitive ecosystem with its own unique pressures and, most critically, its own uniquely demanding travel itinerary.

A Career Defined by Power and Promise

Byeong Hun An is no stranger to the global stage. Born in Seoul, South Korea to two Olympic table tennis medalists, athletic excellence is in his DNA. He burst onto the golf scene in 2009 by becoming the youngest-ever winner of the U.S. Amateur Championship at just 17 years old, a victory that put him in the company of legends like Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus. He turned professional and methodically built a successful career, primarily on the European Tour (now DP World Tour), where he won the prestigious BMW PGA Championship in 2015. His journey eventually led him to the PGA Tour, where he became known for his prodigious driving distance, consistently ranking among the longest hitters in the game. While a PGA Tour victory has remained elusive, his talent and power have made him a respected and recognizable figure in the sport. An’s career has always been international, but his recent move represents a radical intensification of that lifestyle.

The Controversial Call and a New Team Identity

The emergence of LIV Golf, with its staggering financial incentives and novel team format, has fractured the landscape of professional men’s golf. An’s decision to join the upstart league places him alongside other notable players who have chosen this new path. He now competes for the Iron Heads GC, adding the dynamic of team accountability to his individual pursuits. But with the promise of lucrative purses and a different competitive structure comes the reality of its schedule. Unlike the PGA Tour, which is heavily anchored in the United States with seasonal swings through Asia or Europe, the LIV Golf schedule is explicitly global from the outset. In a single season, players can find themselves competing in Mexico, the United States, Australia, Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Saudi Arabia. This relentless continent-hopping presents a challenge that goes far beyond simply booking flights and packing bags.

The Unseen Opponent: Conquering the Global Gauntlet

For a professional golfer, consistency is paramount. Their performance depends on a delicate balance of finely tuned motor skills, mental clarity, and physical endurance. The greatest opponent on a tour like LIV’s is not always the player in the group ahead, but the invisible physiological disruption caused by constant, rapid travel across multiple time zones.

The Physiological Battle: Deconstructing Jet Lag

Jet lag, or desynchronosis, is a medically recognized sleep disorder that occurs when the body’s internal clock, or circadian rhythm, falls out of sync with the new local time. This internal clock, located in the hypothalamus of the brain, regulates the 24-hour cycle of sleep, wakefulness, hormone release, body temperature, and other vital bodily functions. When a person travels across several time zones, this rhythm is disrupted. The consequences for an elite athlete are devastating. Cognitive function suffers, leading to poor decision-making and a loss of focus—fatal flaws in a game of inches like golf. Motor skills are impaired, affecting the timing and precision of the golf swing. Hormonal imbalances, particularly with cortisol (the stress hormone) and melatonin (the sleep hormone), can disrupt sleep quality and hinder the body’s ability to recover from physical exertion. A golfer battling severe jet lag isn’t just tired; their entire physiological system is in a state of disarray, making it nearly impossible to compete at their peak.

Beyond the Body Clock: The Logistical Nightmare

The challenges extend beyond the internal. A global tour means navigating a constantly changing environment. Maintaining a consistent nutritional plan becomes incredibly difficult when local cuisines and food availability vary so widely. Finding adequate training facilities, from gyms to practice ranges that meet professional standards, requires advance planning and adaptability. Furthermore, the mental toll of being away from family for extended periods, coupled with the stress of travel logistics and the pressure to perform, can lead to burnout and a decline in mental well-being. For Ben An, succeeding on the LIV Tour means finding a way to mitigate all these factors—to control the chaos and create a bubble of stability amidst a whirlwind of international travel.

Enter the Digital Caddie: How AI is Revolutionizing An’s Regimen

This is where artificial intelligence enters the picture. For An, “using AI” is not about a futuristic robot offering swing advice. It’s about leveraging sophisticated platforms that collect vast amounts of personal biometric data, analyze it in the context of his demanding schedule, and provide actionable, personalized recommendations to optimize his health and performance. It’s a proactive, predictive approach to managing his body.

Mastering Sleep: The Circadian Code Cracker

The cornerstone of An’s AI-driven strategy is sleep optimization. Using wearable devices like a WHOOP strap or an Oura Ring, he can track key sleep metrics in incredible detail: the duration of his sleep, the time spent in different stages (Light, Deep, REM), and disturbances throughout the night. An AI platform takes this data and cross-references it with his travel itinerary.

Before a flight from his home in Orlando to a tournament in, for example, Adelaide, Australia—a staggering 14.5-hour time difference—the AI would generate a personalized acclimation plan. This plan might start several days *before* he travels, instructing him to gradually shift his bedtime and wake-up time to begin aligning with the destination. It would advise on precise times to seek out bright sunlight and, conversely, when to wear blue-light-blocking glasses to naturally stimulate or suppress melatonin production. The algorithm can even suggest the optimal time to take his flight and whether to sleep or stay awake on the plane to land as synchronized as possible. Upon arrival, the AI continues to guide him, providing recommendations for short, timed naps or specific light exposure protocols to accelerate his body’s adjustment. This transforms the guesswork of combating jet lag into a precise, scientific process.

Training Smarter, Not Harder: Data-Driven Recovery

The same wearables tracking An’s sleep also monitor his recovery status 24/7. Key metrics like Heart Rate Variability (HRV), which measures the variation in time between each heartbeat, and Resting Heart Rate (RHR) are powerful indicators of the body’s readiness to perform. A high HRV and low RHR typically signify a well-rested and recovered state, while a low HRV and elevated RHR can be a red flag for physical or mental stress, illness, or fatigue.

An AI system constantly analyzes these trends. After a long-haul flight, the data will almost certainly show signs of physiological stress. The platform can then provide An and his training team with a daily “Readiness Score.” If the score is low, the AI might recommend forgoing a planned heavy weightlifting session in favor of a low-intensity active recovery workout, like stretching or swimming. This data-driven approach helps prevent overtraining, a major risk for athletes on a grueling schedule, and reduces the likelihood of injury. It allows him to tailor his training intensity not just to a pre-set plan, but to his body’s actual state on any given day, ensuring his energy is expended wisely.

Fueling for a Global Campaign: AI-Powered Nutrition

Nutrition on the road is a notoriously difficult variable to control. An AI-powered application can serve as a personal nutritionist in his pocket. By inputting his performance goals, dietary preferences, and even allergies, the system can generate meal plans tailored to his needs. More impressively, it can adapt these plans based on his location. If he’s in Spain, the AI can suggest local dishes or ingredients that fit his macronutrient targets. If he’s in Saudi Arabia, it can do the same. Furthermore, the AI can strategically time his meals to aid in jet lag recovery. For instance, it might recommend a high-protein breakfast at a specific time upon arrival to help anchor his body clock to the new time zone, or a carbohydrate-rich meal in the evening to promote sleep.

From Acclimation to Execution: The Future of On-Course AI

While An’s primary focus is on using AI for acclimation, this technology is also making deep inroads into on-course strategy. Systems like Arccos Caddie use sensors in a player’s grips to automatically track every shot they hit during a round. Over time, an AI platform analyzes this massive dataset to provide “Strokes Gained” analytics, a powerful statistical method that measures a golfer’s performance against a benchmark.

The AI can tell An with pinpoint accuracy where he is gaining or losing shots to the competition. It might reveal a weakness in approach shots from 125-150 yards or a tendency to miss fairways to the right when using his 3-wood. This allows him to focus his practice time with surgical precision, turning subjective feelings about his game into objective, data-backed realities. This on-course data can then be integrated with his off-course biometric data, creating a holistic, 360-degree view of his performance and well-being.

Beyond the Algorithm: The Indispensable Human Element

It is crucial to recognize that this technological revolution does not make the human element obsolete. In fact, it enhances it. The AI is a tool—an incredibly powerful one—but it is not a replacement for the intuition of a coach, the hands-on care of a physiotherapist, or the on-course wisdom of a caddie. An’s decision to embrace AI showcases a modern athlete’s mindset: a willingness to seek out every possible advantage and an understanding that performance is a complex interplay of factors.

The data provided by the AI platform empowers his entire team. His coach can have more informed conversations about his physical state. His caddie can better understand his fatigue levels during a round. The AI provides the objective “what,” but it’s the human team that provides the “why” and determines the best course of action. An’s role remains central; he must possess the discipline to follow the AI’s recommendations and the self-awareness to know when his body is telling him something that deviates from the data. The technology serves the athlete, not the other way around.

A Glimpse into the Future: The Quantified Athlete and the New Normal

Byeong Hun An’s approach is not an isolated experiment; it is a harbinger of the future of elite sports. We are firmly in the era of the “quantified athlete,” where every aspect of an individual’s physiology and performance can be tracked, measured, and analyzed. This trend is visible across the sporting world. NBA teams use sophisticated load management systems to prevent injuries to their star players. Formula 1 teams analyze billions of data points in real-time to optimize race strategy. Professional cycling teams use biometric data to tailor training and recovery protocols for each rider.

This data-driven approach is becoming the new standard for gaining a competitive edge. As sports become more globalized and schedules more condensed, the ability to manage recovery and mitigate the stresses of travel will become as important as raw talent. An is on the leading edge of this movement in golf, demonstrating that the fight for lower scores begins long before the first tee, in the careful, technologically-assisted management of one’s own body.

Conclusion: The Hybrid Athlete for a New Era of Golf

Byeong Hun An’s journey on the LIV Golf tour is a fascinating case study in the evolution of professional sports. His decision to rely on artificial intelligence to navigate the tour’s demanding global schedule is a testament to his forward-thinking approach. He is not just playing a new tour; he is pioneering a new way to prepare for it. By leveraging AI to master sleep, optimize recovery, and fine-tune his nutrition, An is tackling the grueling realities of modern professional golf head-on.

His story redefines what it means to be an elite athlete in the 21st century. It’s no longer enough to have a perfect swing or nerves of steel. The modern champion must also be a CEO of their own health and well-being, utilizing every tool at their disposal. In turning to the cold, hard logic of algorithms to manage the complexities of the human body, Ben An is becoming a new kind of hybrid athlete—one who combines immense physical talent with a deep understanding of the data that drives it. As he travels the globe, his performance will be a referendum not just on his golf game, but on whether this high-tech approach is the key to unlocking sustained success in the demanding new world of global sport.