After losing his PGA TOUR card, it was a no-brainer for Brandon Wu on where he would be playing this season. With his options being to play on the Korn Ferry Tour, the PGA TOUR’s development circuit, or to take up membership on the DP World Tour, the decision was an easy one for the Chinese-American professional.
“I chose to play on the DP World Tour this year because I wanted to challenge myself and try something new. I think it is incredible that they get to play a global schedule,” said Wu who will be in the field for the upcoming Volvo China Open, April 17-20 at Enhance Anting Golf Club in Shanghai.
“I’ve quite enjoyed my life on the DP World Tour so far. Obviously, the travel is intense and we go to very far places but I think it is also very rewarding. I really enjoy the fact that golf gets to take me to places all around the world that I have never been before. It’s been cool to explore and see the world.”
For Wu, who turned pro in 2019, coming to China is practically a homecoming for the California native. He lived in Beijing from the ages of eight to 13 and developed his game playing on the country’s competitive junior tournament circuit.
“It was tremendous for me as a kid to spend some years growing up in China. It was good from a golf perspective as golf was really starting to develop. There was a good junior tour that was great for my golf game. We got to travel around and see some incredible places.”
A scholarship to Stanford University, Tiger Woods’ alma mater, would soon follow and Wu would graduate with a degree in product design after an outstanding amateur career. Among the highlights was playing on the victorious US side at the 2019 Walker Cup, being part of the mixed team foursome that won the gold medal at the 2019 Pan-Am Games and being on the Stanford team that won the NCAA Division 1 men’s golf championship in his senior year.
Upon turning pro Wu would find further success in winning the Korn Ferry Tour Championship in 2020, before graduating to the PGA TOUR for the 2021-2022 season. In that season he would post an equal second at Pebble Beach and a third-place finish at the Mexico Open. The following season he would have an equal runner-up in Mexico and an equal third in Puerto Rico to successfully retain his playing card.
After winning nearly USD4.1 million during his first two campaigns on the PGA TOUR, last season would be a different story for Wu. He struggled with his driver and make only 15 cuts in 30 events to earn just over USD$750,000 and lose his card.
“I learned that it takes a lot to be successful. You really have to devote your entire life to your craft and career, work really hard to do it and honestly, sometimes that’s not enough,” said the 28-year-old.
With the top ten players in the Race to Dubai year-end rankings earning their playing card for next season’s PGA TOUR, Wu said that could be one way for him to get back to playing full-time in the U.S. For now, however, he was just enjoying the diversity of the various tournaments on the DP World Tour. So far this season he has made four cuts in seven events played.
“My current game is good. I always hit my irons pretty well. My chipping has gotten a lot better in the past couple of years. My putting has kind of been streaky where there are some good weeks and some bad weeks,” he said.
“I feel the biggest struggle for me has been off the tee with the driver. That was something that really hurt me last year on the PGA TOUR and has maybe not quite gotten going yet this year. I feel like I am close with the driver and once I start to drive it well I’ll really start to play better.”
Wu noted he had been to Shanghai a couple of times previous, once on a school field trip, but now he was excited to be returning to the city for his first tournament as a profesisonal in China.
“It would be so amazing to win China’s national championship. The fans and market for golf in China is amazing. They are so passionate. Just being Chinese and having that in my culture I think that would mean so much to me to play in this type of tournament and to win. I haven’t won a professional tournament for a long time, so I would really look forward to that.”
