Yu Secures Starting Spot for Pebble Beach Bonanza

San Diego, California, United States: Chinese Taipei’s Kevin Yu Chun-an is finding his feet on the PGA Tour. At the Farmers Insurance Open, he tied for sixth to make it back-to-back top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour for the first time.

A week after coming equal third at The American Express, Yu maintained his run of good form thanks to a closing bogey-free five-under-par 67 over the South Course at Torrey Pines.

He finished three strokes behind Mattieu Pavon, who became the first Frenchman to win on the PGA Tour since World War II.

For 25-year-old Yu there was the added bonus of qualifying for next week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the second Signature event of the 2024 season.

Yu also earned his place in next week’s US$20 million showpiece at Pebble Beach through the Aon Swing 5.

A graduate from PGA Tour University and the Korn Ferry Tour, Yu was delighted to post another strong finish after missing four months of action last season due to a torn meniscus.

“I’m happy what I did this week and last week. Back-to-back top-10s … this is the first time for me. I can see the game is trending right now, so hopefully I can keep it up and get into the coming Signature events,” said Yu, a former number one in the World Amateur Golf Ranking who appeared in six editions of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC).

In the final round at Torrey Pines, he hit 14 greens in regulation and rode on a hot putter which saw him rank second during the final day in Strokes Gained: Putting.

He rolled in a 14-footer on the first, holed from five feet on the third and picked up a third birdie on eight from 10 feet to turn in three-under before finishing with a flourish by rattling home a 29-footer for birdie on 17 and then closing with an easy birdie from three feet at the last hole.

“Today I felt I was driving the ball way better compared to the last two rounds on South. The key out here is to hit fairways, which I did. Putting was pretty solid, so it helped me make a lot of clutch putts and then birdie putts, too,” said Yu, who is excited to return to the iconic Pebble Beach having finished tied seventh there last season.

Hideki Matsuyama, a two-time winner of the AAC, carded a final-round 67 to finish tied 13th while fellow-Japanese Ryo Hisatsune closed with a 70 to finish joint 33rd.