Xin Jun Zhang - gets 2018 PGA Tour card - only been playing 10 years

[nevets88]

I'll have to do more reading on this, will need to surf the Chinese interwebs, but based on the PGA Tour's writeup, he worked as a security guard at a course 10 years ago, picked up the game and now boom, just earned a spot on the PGA Tour via Web(dot)com tour. He's not without controversy, was suspended from the European Tour (not sure if Challenge Tour or the big tour) for 6 months for signing incorrect scorecards.

This may be an actual kind of Dan Plan, late start, 10 years to get on the tour.

Quote

Zhang says the same thing. A decade ago, he had accepted a security guard job at a golf course near his home. He eventually picked up a club and tried the sport. And 10 years later, here he is. For Dou, what he’s accomplished has always been a dream since he was still in grade school. Zhang comes at it a little differently; it’s still hard for him to imagine where golf has taken him.

http://www.pgatour.com/news/2017/08/28/chinese-marty-dou-xinjun-zhang-secure-tour-cards.html?cid=TWPGATOUR

Quote

20. Xinjun Zhang

Age: 30

Birthplace: Shanxi, China

College: none

2017 Web.com Tour season: 4 top 10s, 11 made cuts in 22 starts

PGA Tour record: 2 made cuts in 2 starts

http://golfweek.com/2017/08/27/web-tour-graduates-2017-pga-tour-cards-25/

[Chris223]

Difference being he obviously has natural god given talent to play the game and Dan from Dan Plan didn't.  Not to understate how remarkably impressive it was for him to get to where he got (like a 2 handicap I heard).  But not everyone can just practice as much as a tour player and make the tour

[Lihu]

He also started at 20, which Erik stated as one of the "requirements" as opposed to starting at 30.

Cool, that he did it!

[nevets88]

A little off topic, here's a table of the newest 2018 PGA Tour members:

http://www.pgatour.com/webcom/news/2017/08/27/meet-the-25-newest-pga-tour-members-cards-secured.html

[Lihu]

Also off topic, but talking about height and athleticism in another thread, Marty Dou looks like an MIT graduate student rather than a PGA player!

XinJun at least looks like a PGA player. . .

[Shindig]

Dang, this guy started around when I did and I haven't even broken 80 yet.  What am I doing with my life?

19 hours ago, nevets88 said:

This may be an actual kind of Dan Plan, late start, 10 years to get on the tour.

I bet he didn't spend a month on one foot putts.

[nevets88]

I wonder what's the record from picking up a club to getting a Tour card. 

[iacas]

2 hours ago, Lihu said:

He also started at 20, which Erik stated as one of the "requirements" as opposed to starting at 30.

I did? Maybe… just don't remember it.

Either way, he's an exception. Good for him.

 

[Lihu]

3 minutes ago, iacas said:

I did? Maybe… just don't remember it.

Either way, he's an exception. Good for him.

 

It was more of a comment that Dan started at 30 something than anything else.

Yeah, pretty exceptional.

[NCGolfer]

 

13 hours ago, Chris223 said:

Difference being he obviously has natural god given talent to play the game and Dan from Dan Plan didn't.  Not to understate how remarkably impressive it was for him to get to where he got (like a 2 handicap I heard).  But not everyone can just practice as much as a tour player and make the tour

Yeah...I think that you have to have 1) the talent to play the game and 2) the drive to get better and achieve your goals.  Being able to practice as much as possible does help but the talent is required.

Also, good to see Beau Hossler get his card.  He didn't have immediate success and get his card through sponsors exemptions so he did the dirty work.

[Buckeyebowman]

8 hours ago, iacas said:

I did? Maybe… just don't remember it.

Either way, he's an exception. Good for him.

 

Ummmmm, I don't know about that. Yes, here I am, your favorite PITA chiming in once again. I started really playing the game at about 12-13 years old. I was at my best at about 22-23. So, ten years. I was not exactly tour caliber, but shot at about a scratch handicap on any course around here you could name, And from the tips.

And, I did it all on my own! No instruction other than articles in Golf Digest. I've always been an independent cuss, and that's the way I like it. What I do, I do on my own!

[iacas]

1 hour ago, Buckeyebowman said:

Ummmmm, I don't know about that. Yes, here I am, your favorite PITA chiming in once again.

What does that have to do with anything? I wasn't responding to you.

1 hour ago, Buckeyebowman said:

I started really playing the game at about 12-13 years old. I was at my best at about 22-23. So, ten years. I was not exactly tour caliber, but shot at about a scratch handicap on any course around here you could name, And from the tips.

Good for you.

1 hour ago, Buckeyebowman said:

And, I did it all on my own! No instruction other than articles in Golf Digest. I've always been an independent cuss, and that's the way I like it. What I do, I do on my own!

What does that have to do with anything?

[billchao]

18 hours ago, nevets88 said:

I wonder what's the record from picking up a club to getting a Tour card. 

Not quite the question you're asking, but I remember when Y.E.Yang won the PGA Championship back in 2009, there was a graphic in a golf magazine showing a list of major winners who picked up the game later (relative to most pros) in life. Gary Player, Greg Norman, and Nick Faldo come to mind.

[nevets88]

3 hours ago, billchao said:

Not quite the question you're asking, but I remember when Y.E.Yang won the PGA Championship back in 2009, there was a graphic in a golf magazine showing a list of major winners who picked up the game later (relative to most pros) in life. Gary Player, Greg Norman, and Nick Faldo come to mind.

According to Wikipedia, Norman started at 15, that's 1970 and joined the European Tour in 1977, winning an event that year. Sheesh, 7 years. What is that, 1 more year than Dan Plan was at it?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Norman#Early_years

 

[billchao]

5 hours ago, nevets88 said:

According to Wikipedia, Norman started at 15, that's 1970 and joined the European Tour in 1977, winning an event that year. Sheesh, 7 years. What is that, 1 more year than Dan Plan was at it?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Norman#Early_years

 

I think it's pretty obvious that Greg Norman had something that Dan didn't.... a cool nickname 

[Lihu]

7 hours ago, billchao said:

I think it's pretty obvious that Greg Norman had something that Dan didn't.... a cool nickname 

The only nickname for Dan that comes to mind is "The Jellyfish" if we're using sea creature references like Greg's

Edited September 1, 2017 by Lihu