World- class amateur about to turn pro
North Vancouver’s Eugene Wong ready to move on after completing stellar collegiate golf career
He is Canada’s top- ranked amateur golfer, but not for much longer.
Eugene Wong is turning pro, having put the finishing touches on a brilliant collegiate career at the University of Oregon this past weekend at the NCAA Championships.
After writing a couple of final exams, Eugene is packing up his golf clubs and leaving Eugene. He can’t wait. “It was kind of a bittersweet ending,” the North Vancouver native says of the Ducks’ semifinal exit at the NCAA tourney. “It was sad that the team couldn’t make it all the way to the championship round, but I am happy that I am done with college golf. I really enjoyed my four years here, but now I can move on with my career. I definitely had some mixed feelings after it ended.”
Wong will officially turn pro later this month, realizing a childhood dream. For as long as he can remember, he’s always wanted the opportunity to make a living with his golf clubs and now he’s about to get his opportunity.
“He has a real passion for the game,” says Doug Roxburgh, Golf Canada’s recently retired director of high performance, who knows Wong’s game as well as anyone. “He has performed at the top at every level he has played — bantam, junior, amateur, college golf, all the way through. He just loves to play golf and he is going to play a lot now.”
Wong is ranked by the R& A as the world’s 18th- best amateur, but a case can be made that he should probably be higher.
UCLA’s Patrick Cantlay and Stanford’s Patrick Rodgers are ranked first and second. All Wong did in his senior year was beat both of them to be named the Pac 12 player of the year.
No. 3 is Jordan Spieth, of the University of Texas, who Wong beat in match play competition Saturday when Oregon lost 3- 2 to the Longhorns in the NCAA semifinals.
His success playing against the likes of Cantlay, Rodgers and Spieth has Wong feeling confident as he prepares to begin his professional golf journey. And while he seriously contemplated leaving school early to turn pro, Wong is happy he stayed for all four years.
“College golf is amazing,” says the 21- year- old Handsworth Secondary grad. “You are playing with the best amateurs from around the world. And for me to compete with so many great players, it just helps you have so much more confidence.
“I know I can compete with them. I’ve seen some of these amateurs like Patrick Cantlay playing in pro events and they always seem to make the cut. So you know what, if they can do it, then I can do it, too.”
Wong doesn’t know when he will play his first pro event. With a Jack Nicklaus Award won after his sophomore year and his Pac 12 player of the year honour this year, he’s hopeful he might get a sponsor’s exemption or two into PGA Tour events. He should almost certainly get one into next month’s RBC Canadian Open at Hamilton Golf & Country Club.
“I just want to get so that I am very comfortable in a pro tournament environment,” he says. “My main focus will be to prepare for PGA Tour Q- school, train as hard as I can so when Q- school comes around I am ready to play.”
Wong thinks his game has matured over the last year, when he rebounded after a disappointing junior season. He worked hard last summer with his dad, Felix, to make some changes to his swing.
“My iron game wasn’t very good and my putting wasn’t too great either so, basically, over the summer after my junior season I worked with my dad trying to fix my iron game a little bit,” he says.
Oregon coach Casey Martin, a former PGA Tour regular, has also counselled Wong to temper his aggression on the course. It’s something Roxburgh has also talked to Wong about.
The truth is, Wong has never seen a pin he didn’t want to take dead aim at.
“I used to laugh because every shot Eugene hit he would try to land it right on top of the flag even though it was 10 feet from the back of the green,” Roxburgh says.
But Wong insists he is a new man, a more conservative and patient player.
“Now I don’t really go for all the pins unless I feel very confident about the shot,” he says. “Usually, over a certain yardage, I just play to the safer side. I will have a better chance of making birdie from the middle of the green than going for it and short- siding myself.
“I pick my spots more now, I am more aware of my course management, I am just more aware on the golf course than I used to be.”
After four years of collegiate golf, where the emphasis is very much on the team, Wong knows turning pro will be an adjustment.
“It is definitely going to be different,” he says.
“You are no longer part of a team, you just manage your self and have do all your own travel arrangements. It is going to be a bit of a different lifestyle, but I am ready to move and go on to bigger and better things, I hope.”