Opinion | Marty Dou and Kevin Yu lead charge as Asia’s aspirants chase PGA Tour cards
- Players vying to follow Carl Yuan, An Byeong-hun and Kim Seong-hyeon in securing cards, with five tournaments left in regular Korn Ferry Tour season
- Lure of tour increases further as it announces bigger purses for eight tournaments next year
Asia’s glory-hunters have five tournaments left in the regular Korn Ferry Tour season, plus the three-event tour finals, as they target places on the PGA Tour.
China’s Carl Yuan and South Korean duo An Byeong-hun and Kim Seong-hyeon are among those who have already succeeded in getting there, with the top 25 players being awarded PGA Tour cards and a further 25 cards available at the Korn Ferry Tour Finals.
The trio may be rubbing their hands gleefully in anticipation of next season following PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan’s announcement last week of “substantial changes”, which will include eight tournaments enjoying greatly enhanced purses, revised field sizes for the FedExCup Playoffs, and an autumn schedule featuring up to three no-cut, limited-field international events.
If there was not already enough motivation for the other Asian hopefuls still in the chase, the time is now ripe for the likes of China’s Marty Dou and Kevin Yu of Taiwan to try to secure their cards, with both of them hovering around the top 25.
The already established Asian stars have been making their PGA Tour places count, with Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama winning twice so far this season to equal K.J. Choi’s record of eight victories by an Asian golfer, and South Korea’s Im Sung-jae and K.H. Lee each winning once to raise their career tallies to two apiece.
