Asians to benefit from PGA Tour’s enhancements
In golf, they say timing is everything and glory hunters from Asia have been in perfect synch and harmony in making the quantum leap from the Korn Ferry Tour to the ultra-competitive and rewarding PGA Tour.
With five tournaments remaining in the regular season which rewards the top-25 players with PGA Tour cards and another 25 available at the Korn Ferry Tour Finals which comprises three events, China’s Carl Yuan and South Korean duo An Byeong-Hun and Kim Seong-Hyeong have safely secured their dream cards.
The talented trio must now be gleefully rubbing their hands in anticipation of next season’s PGA Tour following commissioner Jay Monahan’s announcement of “substantial changes” last week which will see eight tournaments enjoying greatly enhanced purses, revised field sizes for the FedEx Cup play-offs, and a reimagined fall schedule that will feature up to three no-cut, limited-field international events.
If there wasn’t already enough motivation for other Asian hopefuls still in the chase for their pot of gold and more importantly, the opportunity to etch their names into golf’s history pages, the time is now ripe for the likes of China’s Marty Zecheng Dou and highlyrated Kevin Yu of Taiwan to press on in their bids to secure their cards, with Dou and Yu hovering around the top 25.
As it stands, the established Asian stars have continued to blaze a new trail, with Japanese hero Hideki Matsuyama winning twice already this season to equal South Korean KJ Choi’s record of eight PGA Tour victories by an Asian golfer, and his compatriots Im Sung-Jae and KH Lee each winning once to raise their career tally to two wins.
And there was also Indian Anirban Lahiri’s an eye-catching runnerup finish at the Players Championship in March to pocket a handsome US$2.18 million, his biggest career pay cheque yet.
South Korea’s Kim Si-Woo, a threetime PGA Tour winner, and CT Pan of Taiwan have also performed well to virtually seal their places in next month’s FedEx Cup play-offs, which no Asian has yet to hold aloft the ultimate prize on tour.
In broad strokes, next year’s FedEx Cup play-offs will feature revised field sizes.
The top 70 will make the first event of the play-offs, the FedEx St Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis.
The top 50 will qualify for the BMW Championship, and the top 30, as usual, will compete for the FedEx Cup at the Tour Championship at East Lake.
The rewards awaiting those who perform at the highest level against the best fields in the game are staggering, with massive purse increases being announced for 2023.
The season-long FedEx Cup prize pot currently offers $75 million in bonus pool, with $18 million alone going to the winner.
While there will be more money than ever to shoot for, Rory McIlroy, a 21-time PGA Tour winner, was spot on by saying the PGA Tour is very much about playing for “legacy” as well as decades-old tournaments that make up the annual tour schedule comprising legendary names such as Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and, of course, Tiger Woods as champions in many of those events.
The likes of Yuan, An and Kim will have the same opportunity to chase golf history, as well the millions of dollars on offer.
For China’s Yuan, his promotion onto the PGA Tour is well deserved following a huge sacrifice to put country before self last year.
He was in the mix for a PGA Tour card but cut short his campaign to represent China in the Tokyo Olympics.
With grit, determination and an abundance of talent, the 25-yearold needed just seven tournaments to become the first golfer from this season’s Korn Ferry Tour class to secure PGA Tour-bound status.
The University of Washington alumnus will become only the third Chinese golfer after Dou and Zhang Xinjun to hold a PGA Tour card.
Ranked as high as 29th in the world and once a regular name in the top 100, An, 30, saw his world collapse briefly when he lost his PGA Tour card last year but said it was a timely wake-up call.
He rededicated himself to the game with new coach Sean Foley and in his third start on the Korn Ferry Tour claimed victory which helped seal a quick return to the main tour.
PGA Tour chief Monahan has revealed plans to return to a calendaryear schedule from 2024.
“On the PGA Tour, our members compete for the opportunity to add their names to history books, and, yes, significant financial benefits, without having to wrestle with any sort of moral ambiguity. And pure competition creates relevancy and context, which is what fans need and expect in order to invest their time in a sport and in a player. That’s the beauty of the PGA Tour,” he said.
It can be certain Asia’s flag bearers will be chasing their own slice of history as well.