In the early morning of Beijing time this morning, the Canadian Tour Qualification School Examination Canada Station came to an end. China's Cao Yi relied on his excellent performance of four rounds of total score of -15 to win the second place in the "eye of the list" of the qualification examination and obtained the membership of the 2022 season plus tour.
Together with Ye Wocheng, Liu Kevin and Wang Shouqian, who have previously qualified through other qualifying tournaments, the new season plus tour, there will be as many as 4 Chinese mainland players playing as members, setting a record high!
The Plus Tour is an important ascending channel for the PGA TOUR
Founded in 1970, the PGA TOUR Canada (also known as the PGA TOUR Canada) has been one of the seven major tour events in the world along with the PGA TOUR, European Tour, Day Tour, Asian Tour, etc. However, due to its partiality to Canada, it was unable to expand its size and fell into a financial crisis, and was annexed by the PGA TOUR in 2013, becoming one of the third-tier tour under the latter's umbrella and tied with the PGA TOUR China and the Latin American Tour.
The significance of the plus tour is to provide a rising channel for players who aspire to enter the PGA Tour. The top 5 in the year-end standings will earn membership on the PGA Tour Ii, korn ferry tour (Champion Full Card, 2nd-5th Half Card). In 2015, Chinese Taipei's Pan Zhengchun was admitted to the Canadian Tour after turning professional, winning two championships that year, rising to the Light Tour with the second place in the prize money list, and successfully promoting to the PGA Tour the following year, achieving the perfect "three-year triple jump" of "Plus Tour-Light Tour-PGA Tour".
In 2015, Pan was promoted to the Light Tour as a top 5 member of the Canadian Tour
Since being included in the PGA Tour system, 10 Plus Tour players have been promoted to the PGA Tour after the triple jump and won 12 championship trophies! In addition to Pan Zhengchun, Masters winner Mike Weir, and J.J. Spone, who just won the PGA Tour Texas Open four weeks ago, are all "PGA Tour champion graduates" who came out of the Canadian Tour.
However, due to the epidemic, Canada has imposed strict border controls on the United States, and the Canadian Tour will be completely suspended in 2020, and only a smaller 8-race tournament will be organized for players mainly living in Canada in 2021. This year, it will be the first full season of the Canadian Tour since 2019, and from mid-February to this week, seven qualifying school exams will be held in the Eastern United States, the West and Canada, and the winner of each race will receive a full card for the 2022 season, 2-9 will qualify for the first half of the season, and 10-30 will be eligible for a limited number of games.
Due to the suspension of the PGA TOUR China and the high cost of transportation for the Latin American Tour, the plus tour, which is also the PGA Tour's third level, has become the most important upward passage for Chinese players to the PGA Tour. In as many as 6 of the seven qualifiers, 11 Chinese mainland players appeared - Ye Wocheng, Liu Kevin, Wang Shouqian, Cao Yi, Jin Cheng, Cao Senshou, Zhang Huachuang, Jin Zihao, Kong Lingkun, Song Tailin, Winston Wang, and other Chinese professional and amateur players signed up for the PGA Tour dream.
(From left) Ye Wocheng, Liu Kevin and Wang Shouqian have all qualified for the Plus Tour
In the end, Ye Wocheng and Liu Kevin finished second and 7th respectively, and won the membership in the first qualifying round in February, the first race in the East Coast, while Charles Wang, who had participated in the Canadian Tour and the Light Tour, came out in the 2nd race in Florida in March with the third place; and in the final round of the qualifier, it was Cao Yifawei's turn to ensure that the Canadian Tour was in hand again.
If Ye Wocheng and Six Kevin are considered "newcomers" in the season, the 31-year-old Cao Yi can definitely be called a "veteran" of the Canadian Tour - in 2016, 2017 and 2019, he experienced 3 full seasons of the Canadian Tour. Born in Beijing, he came to Vancouver, Canada to study ball life since he was a child, relying on excellent body materials and flamboyant style, he is regarded as the leader of China's golf "post-90s generation". However, it was not until 2018 that Cao Yi won the first professional title at the PGA TOUR China Chongqing Championship, and his talent became a big instrument. It was also that year, after failing to qualify for the Shocklight Tour, Cao Yi faded out of the domestic arena and returned to Vancouver to continue his dream of impacting the PGA Tour on the Canadian Tour.
Cao Yi won the PGA Tour Canadian Open wild card
During the epidemic period, Cao Yi won the first place in the total points in the 4 Canadian Life Series events held for local players at the 2020 Canadian Tour, with the best results of the first place, the second place and the third place! Although these events do not provide 6 world ranking points like the general plus tour, they also earn Cao Yi a valuable wild card for the PGA Tour, the Canadian Open. That is to say, at the Canadian Open on June 9 this year, which restarts after three years, he will become the third Chinese mainland player to appear on the PGA Tour in the 2021/22 season after Yuan Yechun and Li Haotong.
In the Canadian Tour qualification school examination held this week, Cao Yi was listed by the official website of the PGA TOUR as one of the "5 Most Important Stars" before the start of the tournament, and the Beijing grandfathers did not live up to the optimism of the outside world - the 4th runner-up of T9T6 - every day he maintained the upward momentum of the game, and finally won the qualified school "eye" with 70-69-67-67-67, all four rounds of below par, and once again ushered in the PGA Tour's dream journey.
With the announcement of the 2022 season schedule on Thursday, the PGA TOUR Iii Tour will officially "resume" at the Victoria Open on June 2-5, with 11 races throughout the year, and after the end of the Season Finale in Ontario on September 15-18, the 1st place in the overall standings will receive the 2023 Light Tour full card, and the 2-5 place will qualify for the Light Tour Half Card. In addition, the top two players in the season's total points, as well as the highest-ranked Canadian player, will also receive the PGA Tour wild card for the 2023 Canadian Open.
Cao Yi, Ye Wocheng, Liu Kevin and Wang Shouqian, four Chinese mainland players, will qualify for at least the first half of the season. In addition, Yang Mutian, the pre-PGA TOUR China champion from Hong Kong, China, and Wang Weixuan, the front-line tour prize money wang from Taiwan, also enjoyed the first half half of the half card qualification. Hong Kong player Matthew Cheung has a limited membership.
Take the Canadian Tour as a springboard to knock on the "door to the PGA Tour" of the Korn Ferry Tour - I sincerely wish these Chinese players good luck in the new season and stage "Chinese Red" in the country of maple leaves!
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