In the fifth year of the Korn Ferry Tour, Dou Zecheng changed.
The PGA TOUR series-China's youngest money king finished third on the Korn Ferry Tour in his second game. He was also one of the first two players in the Chinese mainland to receive an PGA Tour membership card.
"It [korn Ferry Tour] is more than just a springboard." Dou Zecheng said.
(Dou Zecheng in the final round of the Lekang Sunshine Coast Classic)
It's the first week of March 2022, and after the first five games of the new season in Central and South America and Florida, Korn Ferry Players have three weeks to breathe and take a short break. This was exactly what Dou Zecheng wanted. He played for five weeks in a row and, apart from failing to qualify at Columbia, had a good harvest in the other four – one second, one fifth and two tied for 28th. In the standings, he is in 7th place.
But he wasn't satisfied.
"[Five games in a row] This decision is actually not good, it should be directly back to rest, should not go to one more game (Lekang Sunshine Coast Classic)." Dou Zecheng said.
You know, in his first year on the Glorious Tour, he set a personal record of 14 consecutive races. That year, he took off on this springboard and got his PGA Tour entry card.
He has his own rhythm. Three years ago, he had discussed this with his coach and came to the conclusion that he "tried to keep playing for as many as three or four consecutive weeks as possible." Rather than fatigue tactics, Dou Zecheng prefers to "have a good state and play better than he expected in a short period of efficient play."
It was one of the many lessons he had gained during his five-year career on the Glorious Tour, or it was the life experience he had gained as he grew up on the Tour year by year. "It may be that with the change of age, my feeling of blood boiling on the pitch has faded a little bit," Dou Zecheng said, "I don't have the same psychological reaction to good or bad balls as before." Playing now, I feel more relaxed and more calm, unlike before, sometimes anxious. ”
(Dou Zecheng in the third round of the Lekang Sunshine Coast Classic)
The four words of calming down are really reflected in Dou Zecheng's scorecard. In the second game of the new season, at the Grand Abbaco Classic in the Bahamas, Dou Zecheng led alone after the third round, but was dragged into the extended round by Brandon Huggins on the final day and lost to his opponent. The duck in hand flew, Dou Zecheng did not say anything, turned his head to the next week in Panama, he rushed to the leading list again, played three days of 6, and finally took a tie for fifth.
'Even though I lost the extra hole game, the mentality of the whole week, including the skills, I think it has returned to a very good feeling and a state of last year's season." Dou Zecheng said when recalling the game a month ago. He has been training since the end of the season last September and hasn't played in more than five months, "I didn't expect to be in competitive shape right away in the second week." ”
The competitive status comes from more than five months of winter training, and also from the bits and pieces that Dou Zecheng has learned at the Korn Ferry Tour in the past five years. The tour was the only way to the PGA Tour, and everyone used it as a springboard. But in dou zecheng's view, the "old bird", in addition to the springboard, the Guanghui International Tour has more significance.
"I've played with a lot of Korn Ferry Players, and their strengths, their weaknesses, as long as I can absorb them, are all things that are good for me," Dou Zecheng said. ”
(Dou Zecheng in the second round of last year's Korn Ferry Tour Championship)
He recalls his first year, successfully jumping to the PGA Tour through the Korn Ferry Tour. "When I went to the PGA TOUR that year, I could obviously feel that I wasn't enough, and my conditions weren't enough," Dou Zecheng said. ”
He learned the mentality; learned how to catch birds more: so far in the new season, Dou Zecheng ranked fifth in the total number of birds on the tour; he learned how to better combine the game and life: having a girlfriend by his side, without the loneliness he once had, knowing that "while playing, you must also make yourself feel happy so that you can hold on a little longer"; he began to plan his career: although he was only 25 years old, he was already thinking about when to hit his limits. "If you can persist mentally, golf is a sport that can go a long way, and you will see some players reach their limits at the age of 40 or even 50," Dou Zecheng said. This is a very important question. The answer he gave was to reduce the amount of practice a little relatively, not to create too much pressure on himself, and to leave more room to continue to impact.
He even began to shake off the childishness of young people and think about some grand topics – in this regard, he was probably more influential not by the Tour, but by life.
"I used to simply want to play, and I didn't think about a lot of honors, including the future development of golf in China, these directions," said Dou Zecheng, who once became a "chinese brother" on the world rankings this year, "but now, I think these will slowly enter my golf career, and it will also prompt me to persist a little longer." ”
"The most considered thing is to hope to promote the popularity of this sport in China," Dou Zecheng said, "no matter what the news reports say, if the sport does not develop well, nothing else makes sense." ”
(Dou Zecheng in the first round of the Astra Golf Championship)
Playing with Zhang Xinjun and Yuan Yichun on the Glorious Tour, Dou Zecheng vaguely felt the taste of "students of the same level". He thinks of the players who debuted together and won championships together – Spieth and Thomas, Wolff and Morikawa and Hovland. He recalls that in his first year on the Korn Ferry Tour, he took third, "(Zhang Xinjun) At first glance, the first three did not seem to be difficult, so he took the second; I saw him go up and try to win a game." Whether it is benign competition or friendship, in Dou Zecheng's heart, such a coming-and-going is far more meaningful than the current "Chinese brother".
"If we can get the PGA Tour cards together, I think it will be better than standing on the top stage alone." Dou Zecheng said.
Will this wish come true this year? At least here in Dou Zecheng, he felt that he could.
"This year's state should let me get my PGA Tour card," Dou Zecheng said, "and such a start now is a good start, and it is also within my expectations, because my state is actually here." If I keep doing this, getting a card shouldn't be my main goal, but to find a way to improve my pick and give me a little more chances to compete next year. ”
"[Korn Ferry Tour] this platform may not satisfy me anymore. I had to go to the PGA Tour and show my skills there. ”