MONDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2017
Andrew Yun emerged as one of the first 25 players to qualify from the Web.com Tour for status on the PGA Tour for the 2017-18 season. A Stanford graduate, Yun got his first taste of the PGA Tour experience in the Safeway Open earlier this month. While he missed the cut, the experience gave him the kickstart he needed to get his Tour career underway. Here he tells us about some of what’s on his mind as he waits for his next start. (Photo: Jennifer Perez/PGA TOUR)
What was unexpected about getting to the Tour?
“With regards to getting on the Tour, it’s something I don’t think you can even really prepare for. This past week was my first PGA Tour event, and I’ve been playing golf for nineteen years now and I feel like all the years I’ve been practicing and playing, I’ve been getting ready for this moment of getting on the PGA Tour. Then all of a sudden, I’m on the PGA Tour. All that was just preparation. It does come in handy, but at the same time it feels like nothing quite prepares you for it, because it’s a bigger stage—a lot more people, bigger crowds, bigger stands. Everything else is the same.”
All those new fans don’t know you yet. Tell us about the strengths of your game.
“The strength is in my short game. Growing up, I was a short, little, chubby kid, so I never hit the ball too far. I couldn’t get it too far past my shadow, so I had to rely on my short game in order to score, so growing up I leaned on that. When I grew up and hit the ball further, since I had relied on the short game when I was younger, I carried it on into my game later in my career as well. It’s what brought me here so far.”
Can you name one or two things you’re really looking forward to on Tour?
“I think competing against some of the best players in the world. There are a lot of guys that I’ve watched while growing up while playing, like Phil Mickelson and Zach Johnson. These guys I grew up watching, I get to compete against them. It’s kind of surreal getting to do that, going from watching to competing against them. That’s definitely something I’m looking forward to, especially going into the back nine on Sunday, being in contention.
“I’m really looking forward to that and building a relationship with these guys out here. Golf is something that we do. It’s not a part of who we are, but at the same time it takes up so much of our time. It is a big part of our life. Since it is such a big part of our life, it is something I know that God has called me to do, and I know that I can use the platform. So I know that I need to do the best I can with it. To build a relationship with all these guys out there is going to be something that will help me do that.”
