Timely Return to Form for Chinese Taipei's Pan

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, United States: Chinese Taipei’s CT Pan produced his best finish of the season with a tie for third place at The Honda Classic, six shots behind runaway winner Matt Jones of Australia.

A former Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship runner-up, 29-year-old Pan signed off with an even-par 70 at PGA National, trading three birdies against three bogeys for a tournament total of six-under 274. He earned 125 FedEx Cup points to rise to 80th position as he chases a place in the elite 125-man field in the August play-offs.

Defending champion Im Sung-jae of Korea also closed with a 70 to end the week in a share of eighth place on 275. His final-round card comprised three birdies against as many bogeys.

Starting the final round four back of Jones, who won by five over Brandon Hagy, Pan showed plenty of grit with bounce back birdies after dropping shots on the second, 14th and 17th holes. He made birdies from 11 feet, 13 feet and nine feet on the third, 15th and 18th holes respectively to earn his second top-10 of the 2020-21 PGA Tour season following a tied seventh at the Masters Tournament in November.

“It’s been an up-and-down performance (for 2020) or even in the beginning of this year. I feel that I’m improving every day, every week. It’s just a matter of time that I put everything together to get it going and shoot four good rounds. This week I think I did that and I am very proud of it,” said Pan, who had missed five cuts from seven starts prior to this week.

In windy conditions, he excelled on the greens and was on point with his iron play, ranking in the top-10 in Strokes Gained: Putting (ninth) and Greens in Regulation (tied sixth). His first top-10 in nearly four months will put him in a good frame of mind as he prepares to return to Augusta National next month and the lucrative FedEx Cup Play-offs which he missed out on last season.

He hopes the good times will now continue to roll following a lean spell. He said last season’s challenges with Covid-19 made it difficult for him to find his usual rhythm and form.

“Covid definitely screwed up our schedules. I always play better in the second half of the season and obviously we didn’t have the first half to warm-up (last year), so I was kind of late on that, and just didn’t play good, and last year my health was clearly sub-par. It wasn’t Covid-related, but just in general, everything was kind of sub-par. I’m just happy to get it back and my game feels great.”

Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat shot a final round 74 to finish tied 67th.