Savannah, Georgia, United States: Carl Yuan Yechun has become only the third mainland Chinese golfer to earn a coveted PGA Tour card.

The 25-year-old from Dalian needed a solo 19th finish or better at The Club Car Championship to surpass the 900 points fail-safe threshold for players to finish inside the Top-25 of the Regular Season Points List and earn their PGA Tour playing rights for the new season.

Yuan, who earned his maiden Korn Ferry Tour title two weeks ago to go with two other top-three finishes this season, comfortably achieved that target with a tied seventh finish at The Landings Club.

Yuan is the first player to be PGA Tour-bound, having amassed 941 points, with 15 events remaining in the regular season. Marty Dou Zecheng and Zhang Xinjun were the first two mainland Chinese players to hold PGA Tour cards, also via the Korn Ferry Tour following the Regular Season in 2017.

“I’m pretty excited about it, knowing that I will be on the PGA Tour next year. That’s great news for me and I’m looking forward to the rest of season and next year on Tour,” said Yuan, who closed with a two-over 74 to finish five shots behind winner TJ Vogel at The Club Car Championship.

Securing his place alongside the game’s elite via the Korn Ferry Tour has been a life-long goal for Yuan and also served as sweet redemption. He put aside personal ambition by returning to China last June to join preparation and represent his country at the Tokyo Olympics and then returned to his homeland to compete in the National Games. He was ranked just outside the Top-25 on the Korn Ferry Tour before cutting short his campaign in the US.

He paid tribute to his wife, Cathy Luo Ying, who is also a professional golfer, his coach and family for keeping him focused as he chased his American dream. “Everybody contributed a lot including my coach, wife, caddie, parents … my friends, everybody surrounding me have made me who I am pretty much. I want to thank all of them,” said Yuan, a three-time Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC) contestant. He tied for ninth at the AAC in Korea in 2016 and was joint third in New Zealand in 2017.

“It’s going to be a new experience. Probably a lot of things are going to be new … new courses, new challenges but I’m looking forward to playing good courses and maybe pair up with some big names to learn from them, and certainly hoping for bigger crowds to cheer me on. It’s going to be exciting.”

Growing up in Dalian, Yuan learned to play the sport at the age of nine due to his father’s influence before moving to the US when he was 14 to attend high school. It was then that his passion for the game grew. He played college golf for three years at the University of Washington – where he met his wife – before taking the plunge in the play-for-pay ranks in 2018.

He stamped his mark immediately on PGA Tour Series China by winning his first professional title in Qingdao and graduated onto the Korn Ferry Tour in 2019. His upward trend continued following three runner-up finishes on the Korn Ferry Tour during the 2020-21 wraparound season, earning him qualification into his first Olympic Games where he finished tied 38th.

In Tokyo, he said: “There is some sacrifice that had to be done. Being able to do this for my country, which happens once in every four years, it’s a one-of-a-kind experience. I’ll never regret doing this.”

With a PGA Tour card now safely in his hand, Yuan intends to freewheel his way through the remainder of the Korn Ferry Tour season in search of more victories. “Same thing every week, same mindset and go out to shoot the lowest score possible. Nothing has changed, even though I have reached the points threshold,” said Yuan, who is based in Jacksonville, Florida.

An Executive Member of the Asian Golf Industry Federation, Club Car has more than 60 years of experience of innovation and design in producing small-wheel vehicles and is a leading manufacturer of gas and electric golf, utility and personal transportation vehicles.

Founded in 1958, the Club Car product portfolio has grown to include much more than golf cars, now encompassing vehicles for commercial and consumer markets, built with an uncompromised desire for superior performance.