Southampton Parish, Bermuda: China’s Carl Yuan produced a career-best solo fourth finish at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship to move right on the bubble to retain his PGA Tour card for next season with one tournament remaining in FedEx Cup Fall.
On the day Colombian Camilo Villegas ended a nine-year victory drought by claiming his first PGA Tour title by two shots, three-time Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC) participant Yuan closed with a gutsy five-under 66.
That earned him 135 FedEx Cup points and saw him rise from 134th to 125th position, which is the cut-off for players to keep their cards for 2024.
With his funky follow-through action, Yuan fought gallantly throughout the week despite not producing his best golf, hitting only five fairways and 11 greens in regulation during the final round at Port Royal Golf Course.
However, the 26-year-old scrambled beautifully, making seven birdies against an opening bogey to finish four strokes behind Villegas.
“I’m very satisfied. I kept enough patience. I didn’t do well on my swing and putting, but I kept my faith. I have the belief I can make it. Golf is hard and the only thing I needed to do was to focus on each shot. I did well in trusting myself over the last three rounds,” said Yuan, who bettered his previous career-best of tied sixth at last month’s Sanderson Farms Championship.
After opening with a lacklustre 70 on Thursday, Yuan said he was in a ‘dark place’. But exchanging text messages with his wife, Cathy, brought some spark back into his game. Despite not swinging his best, he stayed committed to every shot.
“I was very frustrated. My wife texted me and I did not even feel like talking to her, which is bad. There were so many mistakes I made mentally or just stuff that made me really frustrated and I putted poorly,” said Yuan. “She’s always very supportive. She knows how hard the job is and it can spiral real quick sometimes. She always tells me she loves me no matter what and I just come out here and try to get my job done.
“I felt like I was in a pretty dark place (after the first round) but before the second round, I texted my wife and said I’m going to do it even if the game doesn’t feel good. I had a strong enough belief. I think I did a great job executing that. I did not get mad, angry or frustrated over any bad swing, bad shots and I really did a good job just staying shot-by-shot, hole-by-hole. I was very proud of what I did today.”
With the 2022-23 season winding up with this week’s RSM Classic, Yuan, who graduated from the Korn Ferry Tour last season, knows he must remain patient to stays inside the top-125 which will make him eligible for every full field event next year.
“I did well this week to put myself in good position for the final push at Sea Island (RSM Classic). I’ve just got to keep doing the same thing – just being patient. When I step up, I’ve got to make sure I’m 100 per cent trusting myself. In the past, definitely I lacked that.”
Compatriot Marty Dou Zecheng finished tied 65th to drop from 127th to 132nd on the FedEx Cup Fall standings while Chinese Taipei’s CT Pan, who missed the half-way cut, dropped from 125th to 129th.
Rookie Kevin Yu of Chinese Taipei, who started the week in 115th position, finished tied 30th and rose to 112th while Japan’s Satoshi Kodaira finished tied 13th to move up to 151st place.