California, United States: Two-time Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC) winner Lin Yuxin hopes to eclipse the stars in The American Express in La Quinta this week.
The 23-year-old left-hander emerged as one of Asia’s brightest young by winning the AAC in New Zealand in 2017 and 2019 in China. Those successes rewarded him with prized starts at the Masters Tournament and Open Championship.
Seeing fellow-Chinese Carl Yuan produce an eye-catching tied fourth finish at last week's Sony Open in Hawaii has also inspired Lin ahead of this week’s US$8.4 million PGA Tour event which features 21 players from the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking, including world number one Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay (fifth), Xander Schauffele (sixth) and 2023 US Open winner Wyndham Clark (10th).
Yuan is also in this week’s stellar field, and will be joined by Koreans Im Sung-jae, Tom Kim and Kim Si-woo, who triumphed in The American Express in 2021, and upcoming Japanese golfers Taiga Semikawa and Ryo Hisatsune.
“The competition is way more competitive out here. Everyone here is one of the best in the world, so it’s definitely more challenging. But it’s also a very good opportunity for me. I’m just excited to get this week going,” said Lin, who turned pro last year.
He graduated from the University of Florida last summer and gained status on the Korn Ferry Tour where he made nine starts, making four cuts including a best of tied 15th at the 2023 Compliance Solutions Championship.
The American Express, the third tournament of the 2024 FedEx Cup Season, will be Lin's sixth PGA Tour start and his first since finishing joint 52nd at the Shriners Children’s Open in October.
He said: “It’s been more like a learning experience for me being my first season on Tour (last year). It’s a little different than in college and I’m trying to get used to things, and trying to get better along the way. It was a very good experience and I've learned a lot.
“The most important thing is to try to play my game and stick to my game plan, and hopefully play some good golf. I don’t like to set result goals, but more with my game as I want to make sure I'm on the right track and to keep improving.”
Like many other golf fans from China, Lin was cheering for Yuan in last week’s Sony Open where the latter fought into contention during the final round before finishing one shot shy of joining eventual winner Grayson Murray of America, Korean An Byeong-hun and Keegan Bradley of the US in a play-off.
No mainland Chinese player has won on the PGA Tour and Lin was hoping Yuan would break the run.
“I’ve known Carl for a long time and it’s really fun to watch him on TV. He had a really good chance of winning last week. I was really happy for him and it kind of motivates me even more to come out here and try to play good golf,” said Lin.
The American Express includes 156 professionals and 156 amateurs competing at PGA West’s Stadium Course (host course) and Nicklaus Tournament Course, and La Quinta Country Club. No amateurs will be included after the cut (54-hole, low 65 and ties).