[PHOTO: Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images]
A new name joins the Aussie contingent on the PGA Tour this week with New South Welshman Jeffrey Guan to make his debut at the Procore Championship in California.
The club champion at Bexley Golf Club in Sydney at just 12 years of age, good judges have been closely monitoring Guan’s progress for close to a decade.
He won the 2022 Junior Players Championship in record-setting fashion and represented the International team in the Junior Presidents Cup that same year.
With three top-10 finishes on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia as an amateur during the 2022-2023 season, Guan finished atop the Future Tour Order of Merit. That provided a direct pathway onto his home Tour, a Tour he joined as a professional last November at the Queensland PGA Championship.
Guan logged his first top-five finish in just his second start at the Victorian PGA Championship, had top 10s in two Webex Players Series events and was added to the Golf Australia Rookie Squad in February this year.
Last month he signed with management company, Sportfive, joining a stable of stars that boasts major winners Jon Rahm, Phil Mickelson, Keegan Bradley and Brian Harman.
Thanks to a sponsor invitation, the 20-year-old will now tee it up alongside the likes of Wyndham Clark, Max Homa, defending champion Sahith Theegala and fellow Aussies Min Woo Lee and Aaron Baddeley at the Silverado Resort.
In announcing Guan’s signing to Sportfive, president of Global Golf, Steve Loy, said he was eager to help Guan’s growth on the world stage.
“We are very excited about Jeff, an excellent young player with the skills and dedication to succeed at the highest level,” Loy said.
“He’s talented, determined, and ambitious, and we have the perfect worldwide set-up to guide him throughout his career.”
Guan has played four events on the Challenge Tour in Europe this year, his best result a tie for 10th at the Le Vaudreil Golf Challenge, a tournament in which he had a share of the lead at the halfway mark.
Australian Golf Digest’s June 2021 cover
As Guan begins his PGA Tour career, Cameron Smith and his Ripper GC teammates play their final individual event of the 2024 LIV Golf season in Chicago.
Winner of the inaugural Chicago event in 2022, Smith enters the week sixth in the individual standings, Ripper GC third in the team standings. If Ripper GC can hang onto third, they will earn a first-round bye in next week’s Dallas Team Championship.
Jason Scrivener and David Micheluzzi will fly the Aussie flag at the Amgen Irish Open, Karl Vilips can lock up a PGA Tour card at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Simmons Bank Open and there are nine Aussies in the field for the Sanford International on the PGA Tour Champions.
Round 1 tee-times (AEST)
PGA TOUR
Procore Championship
Silverado Resort (North Cse), Napa, California
12:11am* Aaron Baddeley
1:50am* Jeffrey Guan
5:27am* Tim Wilkinson (NZ)
5:38am Min Woo Lee
Defending champion: Sahith Theegala
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prize money: $US6 million
TV times: Live 3am-11am Friday; Live 3am-11:30am Saturday; Live 8:30am-11:30am Sunday; Live 8am-11am Monday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.
DP World Tour
Amgen Irish Open
Royal County Down GC, Co Down, Northern Ireland
5:40pm Sam Jones (NZ)
6:30pm David Micheluzzi
9:40pm Ryan Fox (NZ)
11pm* Jason Scrivener
11:10pm Daniel Hillier (NZ)
Defending champion: Vincent Norrman
Past Aussie winners: Brett Rumford (2004), Lucas Herbert (2021)
Prize money: $US6 million
TV times: Live 10pm-3am Thursday; Live 1am-3am Saturday; Live 9:30pm-2.30am Saturday, Sunday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.
LIV Golf
LIV Golf Chicago
Bolingbrook Golf Club, Bolingbrook, Illinois
Australasians in the field: Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman, Matt Jones, Lucas Herbert, Danny Lee (NZ)
Defending champion: Bryson DeChambeau
Past Aussie winners: Cameron Smith (2022)
Prize money: $US20 million
TV times: Live 3:15am Saturday, Sunday, Monday on 7 Plus.
Japan Golf Tour
ANA Open Golf Tournament
Sapporo Golf Club (Watatsu Cse), Hokkaido
8:50am Anthony Quayle
9:05am* Brad Kennedy
12:20pm Brendan Jones
Defending champion: Hideto Tanihara
Past Aussie winners: Graham Marsh (1979), Kurt Barnes (2011), Brendan Jones (2016)
Prize money: ¥150 million
Korn Ferry Tour
Simmons Bank Open for the Snedeker Foundation
Vanderbilt Legends Club (North Cse), Franklin, Tennessee
11:25pm* Brett Drewitt
3:29am* Karl Vilips
3:51am Rhein Gibson
Defending champion: Grayson Murray
Past Aussie winners: Cameron Davis (2018)
Prize money: $US1.5 million
TV times: Live 3am-6am Friday on Fox Sports 503; 12pm-1:30pm Saturday; 5pm-6:30pm Sunday; Live 5am-8am Monday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.
Epson Tour
Tuscaloosa Toyota Classic
Ol’ Colony Golf Complex, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Australasians in the field: Fiona Xu (NZ), Cassie Porter, Maddison Hinson-Tolchard
Defending champion: Isabella Fierro
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prize money: $US237,500
Challenge Tour
Open de Portugal at Royal Óbidos
Royal Óbidos Spa & Golf Resort, Vau Óbidos, Portugal
5:20pm Hayden Hopewell
Defending champion: Marco Penge
Past Aussie winners: Dimitrios Papadatos (2018)
Prize money: €270,000
LET Access Series
Hauts de France Pas de Calais Golf Open
Golf Saint Omer, Lumbres, France
Australasians in the field: Kelsey Bennett, Wenyung Keh (NZ)
Defending champion: Lejan Lewthwaite
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prize money: €40,000
PGA TOUR Champions
Sanford International
Minnehaha Country Club, Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Australasians in the field: Steven Alker (NZ), Steve Allan, Stuart Appleby, David Bransdon, Greg Chalmers, Richard Green, Mark Hensby, Rod Pampling, John Senden, Michael Wright.
Defending champion: Steve Stricker
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prize money: $US2.1 million
TV times: 1:30pm-3pm Saturday; 11:30am-1pm Sunday; 11am-12:30pm Monday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.
Legends Tour
European Legends Cup
Golf Almerimar, Andalucia, Spain
Australasians in the field: Michael Campbell (NZ), Michael Long (NZ), Scott Hend
Defending champion: Inaugural event
Past Aussie winners: Nil
