Korn Ferry Chinese Military Reunion Dinner (Photo/changjun8610@IG)
On Monday night, at the Louisiana Goldmine Hotel Club Restaurant, Yuan invited Zhang Xinjun, Dou Zecheng, and their respective families to a dinner party to celebrate the first Korn Ferry Tour victory and his own 25th birthday.
Suddenly, several Light Tour staff members came over, served a large, yellow-and-green cake, and sang a birthday song together. The cake is tucked with three small flags, which are written in English as "One Shot into the Hole", "Congratulations" and "Happy Birthday".
"I don't know if anyone else knows beforehand, at least I don't." Yuan Yechun, a birthday star, said, "This is really a huge surprise! ”
Yuan Yichun, who has studied overseas and fought for many years, must have counted how many birthdays he had "on the road". But the day of 25 years old must be his "sweetest" birthday. "It's a very warm feeling, and it's rare to have such a heartwarming moment during every week of traveling on the road to the Tour."
Light Tour presents Yuan Yechun with birthday cake (Photo/ying912_@IG)
Despite this day, Yuan is still "on the road": he and his wife Luo Ying have moved to another course an hour and a half away, after all, the next leg of the Light Tour, the Lake Charles Championship, is about to start in three days. In addition to a rare dinner in the evening, most of the time on his 25th birthday, Yuan Yichun was preparing for the game: "In the morning, I went to the stadium for normal training, and in the afternoon I could probably rest and adjust for half a day, but basically I only did a little stretching in the room." ”
2022 is Yuan Yechun's fourth year on the Korn Ferry Tour. His resume of 59 games allows him to be called a "veteran" of the Light Tour in a sense — but Yuan Yechun doesn't want to use that title to describe himself.
"Being a veteran on this tour is not a particularly good thing. I definitely want to promote to the PGA Tour faster, so I set my goal very high at the beginning of this year, hoping to give myself more motivation to really rush out of the PGA Tour and come to the PGA Tour. In an interview with Chinese media this morning across the ocean, Beijing time, the 25-year-old said.
After four years of playing in the second division, Yuan Yichun finally won his first victory
This dynamic is so ferocious and remarkable. Five games at the start of the new season, Yuan Yichun won the first, second and third place, especially the first win of the Louisiana Open last Sunday, which not only made him jump to the first place in the season standings, but also determined a valuable ticket to the PGA Tour early with a strong score of 853.333 points!
What is particularly exciting for Chinese fans is that this is the third consecutive week, Chinese golfers have achieved a good record in the international arena "relay" - first Wu Ashun won his fourth DP World Tour championship at the Kenya Open, Lin Xiyu almost reached the top of the next week's LPGA Thailand tournament and won the runner-up, just 7 days later, Yuan Yichun achieved a championship breakthrough on the LIGHT Tour stage in the United States - in March, the year of the tiger, the excellent performance of other compatriot players, is not to some extent "exciting" What about Yuan Yechun's small cosmic explosion?
"I definitely have paid attention to the performance of Chinese players in other arenas, we are very good friends in private, after all, Brother Shun is also my big brother, my relationship with Xi Yu is also good, we all sent messages after the game, congratulations to each other." Yuan Yechun said, "I think it may be more of an incentive to see other Chinese players play at a good level and hope that they can play better." ”
Wu Ashun, Lin Xiyu and Yuan Yichun achieved good results in three consecutive weeks
"Although subjectively, I don't think there is a particularly big connection between this, but subconsciously, there must be a kind of motivation for myself, seeing other players play well can win the championship, of course, I also think I can do it, I think there must be something in the subconscious."
After winning the Light Tour and entering the PGA Tour, many people are very concerned: What is Yuan Yechun's next goal? In this regard, the 25-year-old Dalian golfer bluntly said that he hopes to get the first place in the light tour standings at the end of the year, so as to qualify for the PGA Tour next season.
"Hopefully, I can get the top spot in the final standings of the Light Tour to ensure the entry card for the whole year next year." Otherwise, it will have to be re-ranked or something, and it may not be available every week on the PGA Tour. "So the plan I made before, and the schedule of the competition, should not be a particularly big change." Definitely still hope to win more and get to the top of the table. ”
Yuan Yechun is currently at the top of the light tour standings
In fact, for the PGA Tour, Yuan Yechun is no stranger. He has competed in four PGA Tour events in his career, with his best result being a tie for 17th place at the 2019 Shanghai Sheshan HSBC Championship. However, in the process of participating in the PGA Tour regular season twice, the performance of the Chinese cannonists was not outstanding, and they failed to qualify. In November last year, Yuan Yichun advanced to the RSM Classic through monday's top spot in qualifying, becoming the Chinese mainland player who debuted on the PGA Tour this season, but unfortunately, the two rounds of 71-75 put him 8 strokes away from the promotion line.
So as the current top player of the Light Tour, where is the biggest gap between Yuan Yichun and an PGA Tour member and the strength to stand on the PGA Tour?
In this regard, Yuan Yechun's answer is - ironclad.
Yuan yichun finished 17th in the HSBC Championships
"I think the main difference between me and the PGA Tour players is probably the precision of the hardcore that goes into the green. If you attack the green more accurately, you can leave yourself more opportunities to hit the bird. “
In Yuan Yechun's view, compared with the light tour field competing for attacking power, the greens of the PGA Tour are obviously harder and more difficult, and the situation of saving the ball will be more complicated. 'If I hit the green well, I wouldn't have allowed myself to play a high shot or be held back from having to save the ball all day." He further explained, "For this kind of faster green, in terms of line judgment and strength mastery, I think it still needs to be strengthened to better adapt to the PGA Tour. “
In terms of play and life, Yuan believes that he has come closer to the training habits of PGA Tour players. The teams he has assembled so far, including swing coaches, fitness coaches, psychology coaches, and regular long-term caddies, all have long-standing experience serving PGA Tour players.
Yuan Yechun with caddies
One of the swing coaches, Todd Anderson, is also currently Billy Hoshel's coach. The gymnast is the coach of the TPC Sawtooth Pitch Training Center, and the two will make a week's physical training plan before the game and make system adjustments during the offseason. Psychological coach Howard Falco had a special phone call with Yuan on the Wednesday before the game and after each round of matches. "I'll tell him how each hole was played, which side of the hole went wrong, whether it was a technical swing or a strategic mindset, and address the possible problems." Yuan Yechun said.
"I think the current team configuration is not much worse than the PGA Tour players, maybe on the PGA Tour, I can ask a better team, such as bringing my own rehabilitation division to the game, after all, the prize money will be more." But although I don't have any of this now, I have prepared accordingly. ”
Of course, Yuan Yichun also has the biggest xiannei helper, Mrs. Luo Ying. In his view, his wife is actually a "lucky thing" that he can achieve so good results now.
Yuan Yechun and his wife Luo Ying (Photo/changjun8610@IG)
"When I take my wife to the competition, I will play better, so usually she will follow the game when I play." Talking about his beloved wife, Yuan Yechun smiled, "Sometimes, she may need to take a detour to the next hole, and when I don't see her for a while, I think it may not be good." So I now asked her to follow me every shot, feel more comfortable in my heart, and give myself more confidence. ”
This week, Yuan also traveled non-stop to another stadium in Louisiana to prepare for the seventh leg of the new season of the Guang tour. In his opinion, it is precisely because of winning the championship that the next season is "on the road", and a normal heart will be particularly precious.
Yuan Yechun is still on the road
"Every game is a new week, and although I won last week, my confidence has increased. But the ball still has to be played one by one, round by round. "I'm not going to get more radical or change tactics in order to be on the PGA Tour." Now it's a new week for me, everyone is on the same starting line before kicking off, all you need to do is have a normal heart and play every shot of your own. ”
More Bird Sports Highlights:
Friends who are "watching" will catch birds tomorrow