Taiwan’s Pan notches first professional win at Players Cup

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This article was published 13/07/2015 (3968 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was as decisive as it was unexpected.

Cheng-Tsung Pan brought a pretty good resumé to Pine Ridge last week for the Players Cup, its only vulnerability possibly having been it as a little thin on pro experience.

Eight college wins at the University of Washington, then a spot in the U.S. Open last month at Chambers Bay and an appearance at the PGA Tour’s Travelers Championship in Connecticut — cuts made at both — before hooking up with PGA Tour Canada a week earlier in Saskatoon.

Then a fair start to the Players Cup, 71 on a windy Thursday and a decent 67 on Friday, led to an impressive move by the 23-year-old from Taiwan.

He shot 11-under par on the sizzling weekend and wound up a two-shot winner over Sweden’s Robert Karlsson for the $31,500 top prize. Pan vaulted all the way to No. 5 on the tour’s money list with his victory.

“This has been something I always dreamed for, my first pro win,” Pan said after finishing with a 15-under 269 total. “I didn’t expect it so soon. I’m beyond happiness.

“I give myself quite (a bit) of time to get used to it, to know what it’s like to be a pro and how the PGA Tour is run. I know I’m good… I know I have a chance but it’s too soon (to hope for) but I’m happy to see it. I played well this week and it’s everything.”

Pan birdied three of the last four holes to make his walk up the par-4 18th without stress. It was an easy two-putt par while the eventual chasers behind him, Karlsson, who shot 69 on the final day and finished 13-under, and third-round leader J.J. Spaun, who shot 72 to wind up 12-under, could only applaud.

“I think five-under was a great score out there today,” said Karlsson, who had an impressive week of his own with 70-65-67-69. “To be honest, under the pressure and under the circumstances… I mean, I had a couple of putts (that) could have gone in, but still, I’m happy with two-under and he beat me today, to be honest.

“I don’t feel like I lost it.”

Spaun, who was still tied for the lead after making birdie at No. 13, was just too inconsistent on Sunday with six bogeys and five birdies.

“I knew if there was a guy to be worried about, it was going to be him (Pan), to be honest,” Spaun said. “I knew he was in a good position starting the day because he wasn’t that far back but he was far enough back to not really care what happens to him, that he can just go play golf stress-free and not worry about dropping shots or whatever.

“Good credit to him, he’s a good player.”

Pan looked very much like the one with all the momentum at the par-3 14th. His iron to a difficult back pin was well-placed about 18 feet under the hole, and his birdie putt caught the lower lip and did a full circle of the hole before falling.

“I thought I had missed it,” he said. “I needed that really bad because I missed an easy up and down the hole before. I knew I had a chance now.”

His 40-foot putt across the green and up the hill for a birdie at the 17th was the punctuation on his round.

“I wanted to make it but I did not expect it to drop,” Pan said.

Pan had gained his PGA Tour Canada status in May at Q-school before he actually turned pro.

Why Canada?

“Nick Taylor, Brock McKenzie, a lot of UW alumni that were here after their collegiate life, they showed me this is the way to do it,” Pan said. “I just followed their path.

“I just want to thank them for showing me this is the way to do it. It’s awesome. I want to… compete in the PGA Tour.”

Pan’s experience last month at the U.S. Open, where he made the cut and finished tied for 64th, was very valuable, he said Sunday.

“All the majors, they are super-, super-hard,” he said. “I was able to make the cut there and didn’t play well the last two rounds, but I was able to finish the whole tournament, and it was a confidence boost for me.”

The Players Cup, after 16 straight years at Pine Ridge, moves to Niakwa Country Club next July, the beginning of a rotation between the two courses.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca