Teeing up to testify

Gunn Charoenkul, Thailand

Back Then: Charoenkul won tournaments in 2014 and 2016 and has played in parts of four seasons on PGA Tour Series-China, 20 total appearances.

Today: Charoenkul is playing primarily on the Japan Golf Tour, where he is currently 62nd on the Order of Merit. He has also played three 2018 PGA Tour Series-China tournaments and has made an Asian Tour appearance.

Charoenkul said: “The best memory for me would be at the Yulongwan Yunnan Open in 2014 when I won there in my first year on the Tour. I shot the lowest score in my life, a 61 in the first round and then I finished at 25-under, at the time the lowest 72-hole score in Tour history. I won the tournament, and I also had my first hole-in-one on the 14th hole during a practice round. It was quite a week.”

Li Haotong, China

Back Then: Li played one full season on PGA Tour Series-China, winning three times in 2014 and earning Player of the Year honors before moving to the Web.com Tour.

Today: Li is in his third year playing on the European Tour, a two-time winner on that circuit. He is coming off a season where he played in all four World Golf Championships tournaments and all four majors. He is currently the 55thranked player in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Li said: “The greatest PGA Tour China memory I have was when I first held the trophy in Henan when I won the Jianye Tianzhu Henan Open. I knew when I had four holes left, I was eight shots ahead, but at that time I had never won a tournament before. So, I was still so worried about making big numbers because the next few holes were quite a challenge, especially off the tee. But I was able to avoid problems, and I won by those eight shots. Winning for the first time was a great memory, three years after turning pro.”

Charlie Saxon, US

Back Then: In his first PGA Tour Series-China season, in 2016, Saxon won twice and finished second on the Order of Merit, qualifying for the 2017 Web.com Tour.

Today: After undergoing hip surgery before the start of the 2017 season, Saxon has played his way back into shape, winning five times in 2017 and 2018, including once on PGA TOUR Latinoamerica and twice on PGA Tour Series-China, where he is atop the 2018 Order of Merit with two tournaments to play.

Saxon said: “Honestly, one of the favorite memories from 2016 happened in Zhuhai. We had a photo call that was amazing. Marty Dou, Taewoo Kim and I went to this bridge not far from the course, the bridge part of a major highway that hadn’t opened yet — that humongous suspension bridge part of the highway.”

Todd Baek, South Korea

Back Then: In 2014, Baek was in the first class of players to move from PGA Tour Series-China to the Web.com Tour when he finished fifth on the Order of Merit.

Today: After spending two full seasons on the Web.com Tour, in 2015 and 2016, Baek has bounced between the Web.com Tour, the Mackenzie Tour — PGA Tour Canada and also PGA Tour SeriesChina, where he won the Haikou Open earlier this season.

Baek said: “A really fond memory is earlier this year, when I won in Haikou. Twenty of us went out and celebrated, with a lot of good food and drink. We had a really good time. I’ve really enjoyed the day-to-day and week-to-week fun of traveling through China with my friends. It’s good to be with them, with all of us playing here. I grew up with Sejun Yoon and Jeffrey Kang, and Ryann Ree went to San Diego State like I did. It’s just nice to have buddies to do things with.”

Ray Beaufils, Australia

Back Then: In that first PGA Tour Series-China season, Beaufils had a pair of runner-up finishes and four top-fives. Even with all that success, he missed two tournaments with injury and ultimately finished seventh on the Order of Merit. He played 31 total tournaments between 2014-16.

Today: Beaufils has split his time for the last three years between the PGA Tour of Australia and the Web.com Tour.

Beaufils said: “Even though I was a lot older than Li Haotong, who was still a teenager back in 2014, I befriended him and brought him into our group of Australians. One day, I taught him that Aussies give nicknames to everyone, with us adding a vowel on the end of the name. I thought about his first and last name, and since Haotong is kind of long and Li is really short, I just added an A to the second syllable of his first name and “Tonga” was born. If he was going to be “Tonga”, though, he said I had to be “Raya”, and to him I’ve been “Raya” ever since.”

Callum Tarren, England

Back Then: In his rookie year as both a professional and on PGA Tour Series-China, Tarren hit his stride at the end of the 2016 season, with three consecutive top-10s, including a pair of runner-up finishes to conclude his year.

Tarren has five second-place showings in his 25 career starts, not including his second-place performance at the Series-sponsored but unofficial 2017 Clearwater Bay Open in Hong Kong.

Today: The England native is second on the Order of Merit with two tournaments remaining and poised to head to the Web.com Tour for 2018. He leads the circuit with seven top-10s in 12 starts, and his 222 birdies are the most of any player this season.

Tarren said: “Off the course, it was our visit to the Great Wall. We went as a group when we were at Topwin (Golf Club) for the tournament in 2016. It was Charlie Saxon, his parents, Michael Skelton, Jack Person, Mark Baldwin and me. We managed to get up on the gondola and walked probably two or three kilometers on the wall. Then we took toboggans all the way down. That was pretty fun. On the course is our yearly visits to Clearwater Bay in Hong Kong for the event. I just love that place.”