Chinese hopefuls embark on Canadian adventure

They won't be the first players from the Chinese mainland to play on the PGA Tour Canada-that honor belongs to Cao Yi. But Ye Wocheng and Liu Kaiwen will forge a career path for themselves in Canada this summer after both qualified for the PGA Tour's international circuit by performing well at the qualifying tournament in Weston, Florida, that concluded last Friday. Ye finished second, and Liu tied for seventh.

While both players are more than familiar with golf in China and in the US, Canada will be a new experience for both.

Ye currently lives in the Orlando suburb of Winter Park, and if there were any doubts he was going to qualify for one of the available playing positions, he ended that with his superb 6-under 66 on the final day that left him alone in second place behind winner Alex Herrmann of Germany. Ye is exempt from all tournaments in the first half of the season and will play the entire season if he is able to make a couple of cuts.

Liu finished 72 holes tied for seventh with five other players, and with only nine membership cards available, he was one of the five in a sudden-death playoff for the final three spots. Liu survived that extra session-with Parker Gillam and David Sanders-to earn the same playing privileges as Ye.

The PGA Tour Canada season begins June 2-5 in Victoria, British Columbia, and concludes Sep 15-18 in Kitchener, Ontario.

Liu shot opening and closing 71s at The Club at Weston Hills and added a 4-under 68 and a 3-over 75.Liu, who was born in Jiangyin, Jiangsu province, but was educated in the US, attending college in California.

"I am excited. I am satisfied with my performance this week. I think I have time to do more training before the tournament starts this season. I very much look forward to it," he said.

Liu played collegiately at the University of California, a golf powerhouse. In Berkeley, he was teammates for two seasons with current PGA Tour player Colin Morikawa. Liu attended the same high school-Torrey Pines High-that produced LPGA player He Muni, originally from Chengdu, Sichuan province.

Ye, a native of Dongguan, Guangdong province, rose to fame in 2013 when, as a 12-year-old, he qualified for the DP World Tour's Volvo China Open, becoming the youngest player to compete on the circuit, formerly known as the European Tour. Three years later, he made the cut in the same tournament as a 15-year-old, tying for 59th.

He played collegiate golf at the University of Florida and at No 497 in the world is the seventh-ranked player from the Chinese mainland, behind only Yuan Yechun, Dou Zecheng, Li Haotong, Wu Ashun, amateur Ding Wenyi and Chen Guxin.

In the final round of the Canada Qualifying Tournament, Ye got off to a flier, with an eagle at No 1 and a birdie at No 2. He added three more birdies the rest of the way for a tournament-best 66.

"This will be a good tour for me to continue to play and learn," Ye said. "I missed playing many events in the previous two years because of the pandemic. Now I am back to tournament play, and I'm excited and have high expectations for the coming events."

Cao, the first player from the Chinese mainland with a PGA Tour Canada card, has split his time between that circuit and the PGA Tour Series-China since he turned pro.