AFTER having won some of the biggest titles and honours on offer for an amateur golfer, North Vancouver's Eugene Wong is taking his game to the pro level starting tomorrow at the Canadian Tour Players Cup in Winnipeg.
Wong is coming off an outstanding four years of play with the University of Oregon, highlighted by being named the NCAA's Jack Nicklaus award winner in 2010 as the Div. 1 player of the year and topped off this season by being named the Pac-12 Player of the Year for the second time as well as a first team all-American. He also has wins at the B.C. amateur and junior championships on his resumé as well as a victory at the 2008 Callaway Junior World Golf Championships.
Wong hasn't played a tournament since he helped the Ducks finished third at the NCAA championships in early June. When he steps on the course tomorrow he'll be playing for something he's never played for before: a paycheque. And though he's shed the amateur label, it's still just a sport of trying to get the ball in the hole, said Wong.
"It's still the same game, everybody's playing the same game. Nothing different - just the players are better, that's all," he said with a laugh. "I won't try to think about me playing for money, I'm just trying to play my best. If you play good of course you get more money. I just go out there and have fun and play the best I can."
Two weeks from now he'll tee it up as a sponsor's exemption in the RBC Canadian Open at the Hamilton Golf and Country Club, his first PGA event as pro. The goal in both Winnipeg and Hamilton will be to make the cut, said Wong. In three previous PGA events, all played as an amateur, Wong failed to make it to the weekend.
"First things first," he said about his goal of making a cut. "Afterwards it's to see how high I can go."
While birdies and cut lines are the immediate aims, Wong's sights are now set on a dream he's been working towards since he was 12 years old - making the PGA tour.
Option No. 1 is a fasttrack to the big leagues but it will take a few otherworldly performances, starting with a top-10 finish at the Canadian Open - any top-10 earns you an exemption to the following week's tournament.
"If I come top-10 in each tournament I can keep moving on to the next event, next event, next event hoping I have enough to get my tour card. Or you win (a tournament) and you get two years exemption on the tour."
Much more likely, however, will be a trip to Q-School this fall, the grueling three-stage event that draws golfers from around the world. This year will be tougher than ever because it is the final time that Q-School will provide a direct path to the PGA - rule changes for 2013 will force golfers to first qualify for a lower circuit before attempting to join the PGA.
"It's a long process," said Wong. "A lot of people from around the world are going to do it. It's going to be hard but everyone has to go through it. I hope I have my game peaked at that time and make it all the way through to the final stage and get my tour card."
The dream of playing PGA golf may have come into focus at age 12 but Wong has been swinging a club for far longer than that. He started hitting with his father Felix when he was just five years old when the Takaya Golf Centre, a driving range, opened up near his home.
"It was brand new. They had a promotion where a month you paid so much and you could hit unlimited golf balls," said Wong. "My dad and I, we went out there every day. I just whacked golf balls, I didn't really care. I'd just go whack, it was fun. I just basically picked up the game from there."
His whacking now refined to world-class levels, Wong, still just 21, is ready to move up to the sport's highest levels.
"My next goal is making the PGA tour, that's basically the No. 1 goal for me right now. That's it. I hope it's this year. If not, let's see how fast I can get it," he said. "It'll be a good challenge, I like something new. I've been looking forward to this for a long time."
