Zecheng

Dou

The local resident was sleeping on his first lead on the PGA TOUR. His comfort at the course certainly helped but a double bogey at the par-4 sixth was too much to overcome and really opened the door for the rest of the field. Dou’s final-round score was right around the field average but you generally don’t win golf tournaments by shooting field average on Sunday. Despite the sour finish, there are still plenty of positives to take out of the week. This will go in the books as the best finish of his PGA TOUR career (previously a T17 at the 2022-23 Bermuda Championship). Dou is now 119th in the FedExCup race so there is still more work to be done if he wants to keep his card.

Dou entered the week with just two top 45s in 17 starts this season. That has him sitting outside of the top 220 in the FedExCup race but something clicked today for the 26-year-old. It was a well-balanced meal on his scorecard as he walked off the course gaining more than a stroke to the field in all four sub-categories of strokes gained. This will be just the fifth time in his PGA TOUR career that he’s posted inside of the top 15 after day one. He settled for finishes outside of the top 50 in all four of the previous instances so today’s low round is no guarantee of a big payday at week’s end. This will go in the books as his career-low round on the PGA TOUR, previously boasting a pair of 65s (both at the Bermuda Championship in the fall).

Dou split 9-of-13 fairways and landed 12 GIR today at Memorial Park. Both currently rank inside of the top 60 in the field while he also picked up 1.6 shots with his putter. The youngster from China has started his season with two top 25s in five events played, currently 68th in the FedExCup race. Dou is making his 33rd career start on the PGA TOUR and those beforementioned top 25s are his top two finishes on the big stage. Gamers should certainly monitor the continued progression of the youngster as he’ll possibly become a reliable week-to-week fantasy option by season’s end.

The 25-year-old Dou carded a 5-under 67 during the final round at TPC Colorado to finish at 17-under 271 one stroke ahead of fellow countryman Carl Yuan. “It feels real now,” Dou said of his return to the PGA Tour thanks to his standings on the KFT regular-season points list (currently No. 2). “The first year I got there, I kind of felt I wasn’t ready. But it’s been three years now from that time, and I do feel like all parts of my game are set for the big Tour.” On the season, Dou has made 13 cuts in 17 starts with four top 10s including his win and a solo second at the Bahamas Great Abaco Classic. The Dallas, Texas, resident won his first KFT title at the 2017 Digital Ally Open and graduated to the PGA Tour for the 2017-18 season, where he made just four cuts in 23 starts and finished no higher than T-51. He returned to the KFT in 2019 and won his first start of the season at the Bahamas Great Exuma Classic. For Yuan, it marks his third runner-up finish of the season and his 14th consecutive event at No. 1 on the KFT points list. Davis Thompson, a PGA Tour University Class of 2021 alum, finished T-6 at 14 under and became the 10th player to earn #TOURBound status this season after crossing the 875-point mark the Tour is using as a fail-safe threshold for players to finish inside The 25 and earn a PGA Tour card at regular season’s end. The KFT season continues July 14 with the Memorial Health Championship presented by LRS at Panther Creek Country Club in Springfield, Ill.

Before the KFT’s three-week break, the 25-year-old Dou had finished T-28 at the LECOM Suncoast Classic, where he opened with back-to-back rounds of 64 before falling back with rounds of 71-74 on the weekend. He’s among the tour leaders in several scoring statistics, including fourth in total birdies made, fifth in scoring average (69.06) and first in putting average (1.604). Dou, a two-time KFT winner, opened his season with two top-five finishes in his first three starts, finishing solo second at the Bahamas Great Abaco Classic and T-5 at the Panama Championship. He’s missed one cut in five KFT starts this season.

The 25-year-old Dou held a one-stroke lead heading into the final round, but made bogey on two of his last three holes to card a 3-under 69 and fall into a tie with Harkins at the end of regulation at 18-under 270. After both making par on the first playoff hole, Dou hit two shots into the penalty area on the second extra hole and could not save par. “When you get to that point -- two-stroke lead with three to play … losing it, it’s a little different than talking about going after the win,” said Dou, who last won in 2019 at the Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay. “When you’ve already had one hand on the trophy, it is pretty tough. But it’s just one tournament. It’s nothing big; that makes me feel it’s fine. It’s only the second week of the year, and I feel like I’ve got a lot of time. It was a good run.” Dou was a PGA Tour rookie in the 2017-18 season, but made just four cuts and did not maintain his card. Last season, he made 25 cuts in 37 starts during the KFT wrap-around season with five top 10s including a T-2 at the Pinnacle Bank Championship in October.

Dou has a T69 and T51 already to his credit at the HSBC, and he hasn’t even turned 20 yet. The 2015 PGA TOUR China Rookie of the Year is having a remarkable follow-up season, winning four times in nine starts during the 2016 campaign. Looking at his statistics, it’s easy to see why as he’s circling birdie or better on 28.73 percent of his holes played. The 19-year-old could earn his way up to the PGA TOUR eventually, but for now gamers will have to watch from afar. This week is one of the rare times he’s available, so gamers trying to stay ahead of the curve should give him a hard look in a format like DFS.

These golfers both made news last fall when they became the first two Chinese-born golfers to earn PGA TOUR cards, both graduating from the Web.com Tour. Now they are trying to one-up those accomplishments and hot putting was the key. Zhang did most of the long-distance work, converting five birdies from outside 11 feet today, including a 27'6" birdie bomb at the par-4 fifth hole. Dou also added three circles from outside 11 feet, including a 30'11" bomb to walk-off in style. Neither golfer has led after any round on the PGA TOUR so this will be a new experience for both of them. Next up in round two, the format will switch to Foursomes (alternate shot).

Starting the week ranked 219th in the FedExCup race, this PGA TOUR rookie has a lot of ground to make up in the season-long race for the Playoffs. So far, so good this week as he peppered 14 greens in regulation on his way toward a career-low round. This beats his previous best which was a 67 (R1 of the 2018 CareerBuilder Challenge and R1 of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am). Highlights today included birdie putts from 21'8" and 14'7" at the 11th and 18th, respectively. The rest of his damage was done with his wedges. This 21-year-old has a lot of talent but he’s still trying to piece it all together on the big stage. His best finish in 20 career starts is a T40 at the 2017 WGC-HSBC Champions.

At press time, no injury has been cited for Dou, who records his second mid-tourney WD in 23 events, second this season in 20 starts. His maiden campaign on the big stage is not going well, entering the week 223rd in the FedExCup standings with four made cuts against 14 missed cuts and no top-25 finishes. The 21-year-old, who lives in Las Vegas, was 2-over thru 16 holes and 9-over total after opening with 79 (2 birdies, 7 bogeys, 1 double bogey-6).