Marty's momentum builds with another impressive outing

China's Marty Dou Zecheng is eyeing a strong finish to the Korn Ferry Tour season after notching his second consecutive top-10 finish by placing tied-seventh at the Lincoln Land Championship in Springfield, Illinois, on Sunday.

After missing five cuts in seven tournaments since the tour returned in June, the 23-year-old has hit a rich vein of form over the past month with four solid finishes culminating with his best result of the season over the weekend at Panther Creek Country Club.

Dou, who is a two-time winner on the Korn Ferry Tour and played on the PGA Tour in 2018, carded rounds of 69, 64, 67 and 68 for a 16-under total of 268, matching his lowest four-day score this season. The young Chinese finished three shots behind winner Drew Brewitt of Australia.

"I'm just playing really solid after coming back. The first couple of weeks, I couldn't get it together as I haven't played tournaments for like four months," said Dou.

"I've kind of felt like I'm now back in shape. I played pretty good at the start of the year and I feel like I'm now playing better heading towards the end of the season.

"We've got like four events left and my target is still to try and win one tournament or finish in the top three."

Dou wrote a slice of history in 2017 by becoming the first Chinese mainland player to win on the Korn Ferry Tour, which helped him earn a dream PGA Tour card for the following year.

After a challenging debut season competing against the world's best, he returned to the development circuit last year and then missed out on a quick return to the PGA Tour by finishing three rungs outside the top 25 during the regular season.

With the PGA Tour dispensing with a graduating class in 2020 because of the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the newly created 2020-21 Korn Ferry schedule will now bridge two seasons.

It will conclude with 25 PGA Tour cards awarded at the 2021 Winco Foods Portland Open, with an additional 25 cards awarded at the conclusion of the 2021 Korn Ferry Tour Finals.

When Dou returned to action in June, he set himself a target of ending the current season in the top 20. He is now ranked 44th and eager to make a big jump in the remaining few weeks.

"Just feeling really good," said Dou. "Starting the year, I said I would not play four straight events but this is already my fifth straight, just because I'm playing pretty good and I'll keep going.

"Hopefully something happens (in the next few weeks), a top-three maybe."

Dou works with Cameron McCormick, who also coaches American star Jordan Spieth, and said the work he has put in has gradually shown marked improvements.

"Everything has moved slowly. I go to Cameron in Dallas and my swing and short game have been moving better," he said.

PGA Tour contributed to this story.