Ding Wenyi was named the best amateur player of the Volvo China Open
For two consecutive weeks, Ding Wenyi proved with undisputed results that he was the "king of kings" among China's new generation of amateur rising stars.
At the Volvo China Open, the 17-year-old finished tied for 3rd place, only three strokes behind champion Zhang Jin, and won the "Best Amateur Player" award at the national open for the second consecutive year after the runner-up of the previous edition. An amateur player who has been in the top three for two consecutive years is also a miracle that has never been seen in the 26-year history of the tournament!
Just seven days later, in the finals of the China Amateur Golf Open, which ended yesterday afternoon, he overpowered the crowd with a 2-stroke advantage, becoming the male champion of China's highest level amateur event with a history of 36 years after 2019 and 2020.
Ding Wenyi once again wears the "red jacket" of the Chinese Amateur Open champion
Three consecutive amateur championships – it's easy to think of Tiger Woods' feat of winning three consecutive U.S. Amateur Championships. Of course, the China Amateur Open is 90 years younger than the USGA amateur competition, and the weight is not the same. But even if you look at The country, only two people who can achieve the "triple crown" hegemony of this event so far - Ding Wenyi and Liang Wenchong.
Volvo China Open Runner-up and China Amateur Open's successful defense of the title will allow Ding Wenyi to earn at least 20 points in world amateur points – even higher than the points won at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship! The first edition of the 2022 World Men's Amateur Rankings, which will be released next week, is currently ranked 19th, and he is expected to surpass Jimbo at no. 18 to ascend to the throne of China's amateur golf.
But I am afraid that in the eyes of many people, 17-year-old Ding Wenyi can no longer be summed up by "amateur players" - in the 9 professional competitions he participated in this year, he won two first places (Boao Station of the Central Tour + Preliminary Round of the National Games), and the worst result was tied for 5th. Although the amateur status makes the youngster unable to receive a 1 cent bonus, if we convert his ranking on the tour in the 2020/21 season into a bonus, we will find that Ding Wenyi can "at least" rank 3rd in the tour prize list with a total income of 485775 yuan, second only to "bonus king" Zhang Huilin and "list eye" Hei Junyi!
Fortunately, the "professional version" world ranking does not "treat" the 17-year-old amateur, and in the 2021 end-of-year world ranking released on Sunday, Ding Wenyi ranked 386th, ranking second among all Chinese mainland men's golfers! Among the Chinese in the world, it is second only to Pan Zhengchun (145), Hei Junyi (346), and Yuan Yichun (358).
In a sense, Ding Wenyi has reached the extreme of what he can do as a "domestic amateur golfer". So next, 17-year-old, where is the next peak?
In other words, in 2022, the number one hope star of Chinese golf, on which stage will appear?
First of all, yesterday's China Amateur Open champion won a very important ticket for Ding Wenyi - the qualification for the 2022 Volvo China Open. In the volvo China Open player category, whether it is the European Tour period in previous years or the China Tour certification era in the past two years, a place has been reserved for the "China Amateur Open Champion". This means that whether next year's Volvo China Open is an European Tour or a Central Tour, whether it is held in April or December, Ding Wenyi has definitely obtained the ticket to this national Open!
Ding Wenyi has been awarded the right to participate in next year's Volvo China Open
Secondly, as the champion of this year's Central Tour Boao Classic, has Ding Wenyi automatically obtained the full card qualification for the 2022 season? This, I'm afraid, is still an unknown. Theoretically, the "single-stop champion in the last three years" will automatically become a "Category 2" player who qualifies for the Central Tour, second only to the honorary members of Category 1, which is equivalent to the "big seed" of the full card shortlisted by the station guarantee.
However, in recent years, category 2 has only been "enjoyed after changing careers", that is to say, if Ding Wenyi retains his amateur status, he will have nothing to do with next year's full card of the Central Tour - of course, as for the 2022 season, whether the Central Tour will be due to Ding Wenyi's birth, modify this rule, or give him an exemption, it will not be known until the China Higher Education Association announces the competition regulations for the new season next year...
In this year's Central Tour, although Ding Wenyi did not have membership, he relied on his excellent performance to stand and be able to enter the competition as a "category 7" of "the top 20 of the last Central Tour". However, due to his amateur status, he is still not a full member of the Central Tour. But even so, Ding Wenyi's participation in the 2022 Mid-Tour is not too difficult, after all, no matter what, he can rely on the "Category 11", that is, the "Temporary Members and Additional Open Qualifiers" in the Amateur Points Ranking of the China High School Association to sign up for next year's Central Tour.
At this year's Volvo China Open, Ding Wenyi and Li Haotong were in the same group for three days
But still that sentence, as a player who has already touched the championship and has reached at least the top 5, Ding Wenyi's lofty ambitions are not enough to cover the stage of the Central Tour. The broader sky of the overseas golf arena should be a higher stage for the 17-year-old to "fly in the sky" - moreover, none of the 11 world-ranked professional events that Ding Wenyi has participated in so far have been held outside of China! Can the youngest player in the World Fortune 500 go abroad and achieve great results? Can it be tested at a higher level of play? Presumably, it is also the focus of many golf fans at home and abroad in the next few years.
Unfortunately, as soon as Ding Wen stepped out of the country, he was bound by two practical factors - one is the epidemic, and the other is age.
Due to the epidemic, the qualification examinations for overseas tours such as the European Tour, the Asian Tour, and the Japan Tour have either been cancelled or the entry threshold has been greatly raised due to epidemic prevention considerations. And the original PGA TOUR China Tournament, which once helped Li Haotong, Dou Zecheng and many other stars of hope to move towards the United States, has also fallen into the abyss of indefinite suspension... This means that even if Ding Wenyi emulated Dou Zecheng at that time, he turned into a professional player at the age of 17 and gave up the road of studying abroad such as the NCAA, the career path and ascent channel in front of him were much more difficult and difficult than xiao Dou at that time.
As the holder of the record for the youngest champion of Chinese men's professional golf, age is also what Ding Wenyi needs to consider. Just 5 weeks ago (November 19), he had just turned 17. This means that neither the U.S. university, which represents the future of amateurism, nor the Korn Ferry International Tour, which symbolizes career planning, has yet to open its doors to this middle school student who is still in his sophomore year of high school. If he does not join the Central Tour, Ding Wenyi will need to maintain his amateur status for at least 1-2 years, and he will also have to experience a long time of entanglement and collision in a very high level that is not commensurate with his age, as well as a rather limited and disproportionate space for play...
However, with the gradual unsealing of the doors of various countries and the gradual recovery of global amateur or professional competitions, Ding Wenyi will have some opportunities to go abroad to compete at least next summer. From an amateur perspective, the USGA's two major competitions, the U.S. Junior Amateur championship and the U.S. Amateur Championship, can be a stage for Ding Wenyi to show his strength.
The U.S. Junior Amateur Championship is open to male golfers under the age of 19 around the world, and the winner will qualify for the Pro Grand Slam, the U.S. Open. In 2019, Chinese golfer Jimbo once finished second in this game, setting the best record of Chinese male golfers in USGA competitions. Next year's tournament will take place on July 25-30 in Banton Dunes, Oregon.
Jimbo narrowly won the U.S. Junior Championship in 2019
As for the American Amateur Championship, it is a hall-level competition in the early days of golf that once belonged to the "Four Grand Slams". The winner of this tournament will qualify for the Masters, British Open, and US Open 3 Grand Slams, and even the runner-up can get the ticket to the MASTERS and the US Open! The 2022 event will take place at Ridgewood Country Club, New Jersey, August 15-21, and as long as Ding Wenyi can maintain the current top 50 World Amateur Rankings, he will automatically be entitled to participate in this top competition.
This means that at least two of the top amateur competitions in the American high world are waiting for Ding Wenyi to join. If his team plans to travel to the United States next summer, the qualifiers for the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour, including the 3M Open, may also be candidates for the Chinese junior tournament during the two major events.
How many of the "champions wall" of the U.S. Amateur Championship do you recognize?
More importantly, the annual Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying School Exam will also kick off in August. If Ding Wenyi can maintain the top 25 of the world amateur rankings, or become among the top 200 men's world rankings, he will receive the treatment of pre-qualifying in early August and go directly to the first qualifying stage of the qualifying stage at the end of August.
Assuming he can reach the top 5 of the World Amateur Rankings before that, or advance to an PGA Tour, he will be exempt from skipping the first stage, starting directly from the second qualifying stage. The Light Tour Qualification Examination is divided into four stages: "Preliminary Selection - First - Second - Final" - those who successfully pass the second stage will be eligible for the PGA Tour Iii, and the top 40 in the final stage will be eligible for the next year's Korn Ferry Tour.
At the age of 17, Ding Wenyi is eligible to sit for the Light Tour Qualification Examination, and if he successfully enters the Light Tour, he will have the option of whether to turn professional and become an official PGA Tour II player after entering the 18-year-old threshold at the end of November next year.
Ding Wenyi has a broad future
In this way, as long as we go abroad, Ding Wenyi may not have no chance, and we don't need to worry too much about this supernova. For the 17-year-old, youth is always wealth, not trouble. Perhaps it is in response to those two famous sayings - where is the road? The road is at your feet. Vast world, great things to do.
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