Global pathways accelerating talented Asian golfers to the fore

The stars truly aligned for Asian golf during one glorious Sunday in October as three talents – Kevin Yu of Chinese Taipei, China’s Ding Wenyi and Kaito Onishi of Japan – put an exclamation point on the importance of the various global pathways that lead to the sport’s ultimate destination, the PGA Tour.
 

With golf sustaining its international growth, the multiple initiatives led by the PGA Tour are also beginning to bear their first fruits in accelerating the careers of aspiring stars from Asia.
 

A first case in point is Yu, who proudly became the first Asian graduate of the innovative PGA Tour University programme to win a PGA Tour event with his breakthrough victory at the Sanderson Farms Championship on Oct 6.

Yu had graduated in fourth place in the PGA Tour University ranking in 2021 following a stellar amateur career at Arizona State University. The following season, he played his way into the PGA Tour by finishing 20th on the Korn Ferry Tour points list.

The 26-year-old, who will be playing in the Oct 24-27 Zozo Championship, credited the PGA Tour University for providing a pathway to the elite tour.

“The system in the US is much more streamlined, giving players a faster track to the top,” said Yu, who became only the third golfer from Chinese Taipei after Chen Tze-chung and Pan Cheng-tsung to win on the PGA Tour.

Recognising a gap that existed for non-US collegiate amateur players, the PGA Tour, along with the DP World Tour and R&A, launched the Global Amateur Pathway earlier in 2024 to run in parallel with PGA Tour University, and reward the top-ranked amateur with a DP World Tour card.

Highly rated Ding became the first recipient of this exemption after cementing his No. 1 status on the Global Amateur Pathway following his Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship victory in Japan, coincidentally on the same day Yu triumphed in Mississippi.
 
Now, all eyes will be on Ding, touted by some as a potential Major champion, to see if he will follow in Yu’s trail onto the PGA Tour via the DP World Tour route, in which the top-10 players from its Race to Dubai rankings earn dual memberships on the PGA Tour annually.

The 19-year-old had to give up prized exemptions into the 2025 Masters and British Open, but said he was confident of qualifying for those Majors as a professional golfer.

For a while, Ding, who rose to third on the World Amateur Golf Ranking, looked certain to take the PGA Tour University option after joining Arizona State University last fall and establishing himself with a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) scoring record by posting a 27-under 189 total in a 54-hole event.

He was also the first mainland Chinese to win the US Junior Amateur Championship in 2022, but opted to turn professional via the Global Amateur Pathway.

“It was a hard choice (to give up the Major exemptions). But... I believe this will be the right decision,” said Ding, who finished tied-11th in his professional debut on the European Challenge Tour’s Hangzhou Open on home soil on Oct 20.

There is a saying that good things come in threes and Onishi made sure of that by locking his top-30 status upon the conclusion of the Korn Ferry Tour season, also on Oct 6, to earn his PGA Tour card for 2025.

Onishi, who moved to Los Angeles at age nine to pursue his sporting dreams, will join compatriot Hideki Matsuyama, a 10-time PGA Tour winner, and Ryo Hisatsune on the world’s elite circuit.

The hard knocks on the Korn Ferry Tour had toughened him up. As a rookie in 2023, he finished No. 100 to narrowly retain conditional status by 0.49 of a point, which ensured he remained as a Korn Ferry Tour member.

A subsequent top-10 finish at the Astara Golf Championship in February opened up his playing opportunities and he later won the UNC Health Championship to essentially seal his maiden PGA Tour card.

“It’s a dream come true,” said the 26-year-old, who was in tears when he called his parents and his idol, three-time PGA Tour winner Shigeki Maruyama, after earning his PGA Tour card.

And more dreams will certainly be realised in the years to come, thanks to the various global pathways, for amateurs and professionals, that form golf’s ecosystem with the PGA Tour being at the centre of it all.