Pan Cheng-tsung
Rising Taiwanese golfer Pan Cheng-tsung wants to extend his winning streak in next month’s Venetian Macao Open.
The 23-year-old player scored a two-shot win over Sweden’s Robert Karlsson with 11-under-
par at the PGA Tour Canada’s Players Cup, one month after turning professional in June. The victory propelled him into the world’s top 600 for the first time.
Pan told journalists during a phone interview that he looks forward to the 17th edition of the tournament, to be held on October 15 to 18. “Winning a golf tournament as a pro definitely helps [build] my confidence and makes me know that I can compete with all the guys, I can win tournaments and I know what to do under pressure,” he said.
Defending champion Indian Anirban Lahiri, 2013 winner Scott Hend from Australia, and four-time winner Ernie Els from South Africa, who have confirmed their presence on the fairway of the championship earlier, will be formidable opponents to Pan as a new professional player.
Encouraged by his golf-loving father, who took young Pan and his brother to a golf club where his mother worked – starting as early as the age of five – the ever-top amateur said his penchant for golfing began in those early days.
“When I was younger, I didn’t know if I was really interested in it, but I thought it was really a fun sport and I loved playing it and I enjoyed every moment on the golf course,” he said.
However, his confidence on the fairway during his time at the University of Washington was not as high as it is nowadays.
“I didn’t feel I could compete against a load of college kids. I was young […] I just didn’t feel confident about my game, and I didn’t know the language very well,” he said in fluent English. Yet Pan holds the record for the most career victories among university-aged men’s golfers.
His main goal at the moment is to scale the rankings as fast and far as possible, in order to gain eligibility for the Rio 2016 Olympics as it seems a little late for him, after just turning pro three months ago.
His eye-opening experience in the United States also stoked his ambition to shine as he tested his mettle against top golfers.
“I could see in the eyes of those top golfers their perseverance and passion for this sport, which I sometimes couldn’t see among Asian players,” he said.
Born and raised in Taiwan, the now-American national exhorted teenage golf-lovers there to look overseas to broaden their horizons and develop their passion into a real career. Nonetheless, the communications graduate, who insisted on finishing his studies while pursuing his dream career, likewise advised that university education was vital to one’s growth.
When asked which golfer he was most eager to team up with, Pan picked top names such as Gary Player, Luke Donald and Rory McIlroy.
Traveling for different competitions as a professional player exposes Pan to different cultures and novelties, but it keeps him away from his family and friends, whom he misses badly.
“Pursuing golfing is not easy. You don’t always play the way you want it to be,” he said. Aries Un
Macau Daily Times is the tournament’s official media partner.
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