What The Pros Are Playing: Rocket Mortgage Classic

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The elevator door opened, and in stepped 17-year-old amateur Marty Zecheng Dou. He was on his way to his hotel room. With his caddie in tow, Dou hadn’t even taken of his sunglasses and trademark bucket hat as he came directly from the course. The next morning, he would begin his PGA TOUR China Series career at Mission Hills Golf Club. Staying in the same hotel in Haikou, China was 27-year-old Xinjun Zhang, a 27-year-old professional, who had been playing golf for a mere 10 years and had obviously taken to his newfound sport and picked it up quite quickly. In that inaugural PGA TOUR China Series tournament, the Mission Hills Haikou Open, Dou and Zhang were two of 56 players from China in the field. All 56 were chasing a dream that previously seemed somewhat inaccessible: eventual PGA TOUR membership. The thought of Dou jumping on the PGA TOUR path by qualifying for the Web.com Tour, at least at that time, was something of an afterthought, considering his age and amateur status. Zhang, emboldened by how quickly his game had progressed, wanted to see what he could do. Plenty, it turned out. Although Zhang finished 10 strokes behind another teenager, South Korea’s Jeunghun Wang, he was the runner up in Wang’s tour-de-force triumph. This was just more validation to Zhang’s burgeoning career. In 2011, at the World Golf Champions-HSBC Champions, Zhang qualified for his first PGA TOUR tournament via his China Golf Association ranking and promptly went out and tied for 13th in Shanghai, finishing alongside notables Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood. Zhang tasted big-time tournament golf and liked what he had sampled. Zhang hoped that wouldn’t just be a one-off. Two years later at the same course, then-PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem announced the formation of the TOUR’s third international developmental circuit, this one named PGA TOUR China Series, a relative of the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada and PGA TOUR Latinoamerica. Zhang’s first thought upon learning the news was he would have a place to play in 2014, a viable option where he could chase his dream. A mere five months after Finchem’s announcement, Dou and Zhang were readying themselves for that first event at Mission Hills, the Web.com Tour just a step below the rarefied air of the PGA TOUR, awaiting if they could put strong seasons together. They did and they would. It just took a while. Dou played the Series as an amateur for most of 2014 and remained an amateur through the summer so he could play amateur events in the U.S., most notably the U.S. Amateur. He then turned pro in September after making four PGA TOUR China cuts (in four tries), including a second-place finish at the Buick Open in Guangzhou and a tie for fifth outside Shanghai, at the Lanhai Open. By the end of the season, both players had to evaluate where they were with their games. While Zhang finished second on the Order of Merit, behind countryman Haotong Li, giving him Web.com Tour membership, Zhang knew only Li was guaranteed starts on the Tour that was at one time home to 75 percent of the PGA TOUR membership. As he evaluated his game, Zhang elected to remain in China in 2015 and play one more year on PGA TOUR China rather than make the leap to America. “I felt my game wasn’t ready for the Web.com Tour, so I decided not to move to America and not play on the Web in 2015,� Zhang said at the time. That second PGA TOUR season paid dividends for both players, as this time they both earned Web.com Tour membership based on their PGA TOUR China play. Zhang was third and Dou fourth. But because of PGA TOUR schedule vagaries caused by the 2016 Summer Olympics and strong fields at the early Web.com Tour events that season as players couldn’t get into PGA TOUR tournaments, Dou and Zhang only earned entry into one tournament early in the season—the Brasil Champions. Not expecting to get into that event, both had to decline the playing opportunity because they didn’t have visas to enter Brazil. Eventually, both players, with zero dollars earned, dropped in the player priority ranking and couldn’t get into any other tournaments. Reluctantly, they returned to PGA TOUR China for what they hoped would be just one more year. In 2016, Zhang did his part, sneaking into the fifth and final spot on the Order of Merit. He failed to win a tournament for the first time in his three seasons on the circuit but the top-five finish again gave him Web.com Tour membership. This time he was ready to leave China. One of the reasons Zhang didn’t record a victory was because Dou was seemingly winning every tournament on the 2016 schedule. Dou didn’t win them all, of course, but he did take home four titles and the No. 1 spot on the Order of Merit. He was on his way, as well. On to the Web.com Tour they went, passports, visas and a hunger to ensure that 2017 would be much different, Dou making his base in Las Vegas and Zhang setting up shop in Jacksonville, practicing at nearby TPC Sawgrass. The two players planned to play the Web.com Tour early and often. Both players teed it up in all 22 of the Regular Season tournaments. Of the top-50 money-list finishers after last week’s WinCo Foods Portland Open, Dou, Zhang and South Korean Kyoung Hoon Lee were the only players to play all 22. In April, it became quite apparent how serious both players were about getting their 2017-18 PGA TOUR cards. Although eligible for the big-money European Tour events in China—the Shenzhen International and the Volvo China Open—Dou and Zhang didn’t return home and instead stayed on the Web.com Tour, both knowing every dollar would count at the end of the year. They played the United Leasing and Finance Championship in Evansville, Ind., and the El Bosque Mexico Championship in Leon. “I felt the best thing for me was to stay and play on the Web. My goal is to play on the PGA TOUR, and this is how I can accomplish that,� Dou said. Zhang clearly felt the same way, maybe more so since he had broken through at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open in March, where he placed second to winner Casey Wittenberg. That high finish put Zhang’s PGA TOUR card within reach. He was runner-up again two months later, at the weather-shortened BMW Charity Pro-Am and was in position when he tied for fourth at the Price Cutter Charity Championship, with closing rounds of 65-64-66, to lock up his PGA TOUR card. Dou didn’t have quite the consistency of Zhang but did explode on the scene in only his second tournament—finishing third at The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic, when his artistry around the greens was on full display. In 53rd place on the money list in late-July, Dou was thinking more about finishing in the top 75 on the money list so he could retain his 2018 Web.com Tour playing privileges than he was about the PGA TOUR. As players have learned on this Tour, though, one week of good play can make all the difference. Dou opened 65-67 at the Digital Ally Open outside Kansas City then finished off a sterling 61 Sunday morning at the weather-delayed tournament, firing a 66 in the final round that afternoon for the three-shot win over three players. He moved to 15th on the money list, giving him enough money to guarantee the PGA TOUR card he’d been gunning for ever since he was a kid. “It’s very exciting. It’s like a dream come true since I was young, wanting to be on the PGA TOUR,� said Dou, who goes by the first name of Marty when he’s in the U.S., Zecheng in China. “It’s been 12 years of practice and a lot of hard work. It takes a great amount of effort, and you have to give up a lot of your own things, your hobbies. You have to spend most of your time at the golf course.� Dou admitted that despite the success, this has been his most difficult year as either an amateur or professional since it has taken him away from his native China. It’s important to note that Dou only left his teenage years behind in January, and when he arrived on the Web.com Tour, he didn’t have a driver’s license. “I just tried to bring that type of confidence I had on PGA TOUR China to this Tour. And it worked out here a couple of weeks ago when I won,� he added. “I think without PGA TOUR China, I wouldn’t have made it this far.� Zhang says the same thing. A decade ago, he had accepted a security guard job at a golf course near his home. He eventually picked up a club and tried the sport. And 10 years later, here he is. For Dou, what he’s accomplished has always been a dream since he was still in grade school. Zhang comes at it a little differently; it’s still hard for him to imagine where golf has taken him. “I never thought this could happen when I first started playing. Then I had a chance to play PGA TOUR China, and I thought that maybe my ability was good enough for me to play at that high level,� said Zhang. Although they are 10 years apart, Zhang married with a child and Dou single, with a girlfriend who plays collegiate golf at the University of Minnesota, the two will begin their PGA TOUR journey together, a part of history as they become the first players from China to make it to the PGA TOUR. Zhang and Dou weren’t in attendance at that Tim Finchem press conference four years ago. But they have proven his words prescient: “The growth of the game is driven first and foremost by the development of elite players who perform at a unique level. Having the opportunity to grow elite players and thus accelerate the development of elite players in China will also translate into the acceleration of the growth of the game in China.�

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