Xinjun Zhang

Zhang grew up in a small village in a valley of Shanxi, China which was very far from a city. Both his parents were farmers who grew sweet potatoes, corn, and wheat. He left home at 17 to find a job, at that time he had no idea what golf was. A friend of Zhang got him into a security academy and he worked security jobs, one at the Xi'an International Golf Club. He did a number of jobs from being stationed at the gate to patrolling the grounds sometime at night which at times was scary with all of the animals around the area. So when a job opened up to work on the driving range, he jumped at the offer to pick up the balls. During the winter when it was slow, some of the other co-workers showed him how to hold and swing the club, and when the range was empty he would hit balls. He practiced for a year before he was allowed to play on the annual employee tournament. It was the first time he had ever played and he shot 116.
After that, he applied and got a job as a caddie which got him access to the course and instruction. He worked hard to become an instructor but that never happened because after three years he was able to play in amateur tournaments. It was hard to spending 20 to 30 hours on a train to get to a tournament and he had to rent clubs from the course that had the tournament. When he was 20 he saved enough money to buy his first set of clubs.
In 2007 Zhang also got a big break by becoming a member of China's national golf team. With that, he got instruction and access to play golf courses. They also took care of his cost of travel and training, plus he got tournament experience. In 2010 he felt confident enough to turn pro and tried to play on the Japan Golf Tour but had a tough time.
In 2011 got to play in Korea and the One Asia Tour. He finished T-5th at the Nashan China Masters missing a five-man playoff by a single shot. At the end of the year got into the WGC-HSBC Champions and he held up pretty well finishing T-13th ten shots back of winner Martin Kaymer.
Over the next couple of years, he continued playing all over Asia and recorded one top-ten, a T-9th at the 2013 Nanshan China Masters. Then he got his big break when the PGA Tour China started in 2014
2014 Notes: Played in 14 events, 8 of them on the PGA Tour China Series. He was 2nd at the Mission Hills Haikou, 2nd at the Wuhan Open (Lost playoff to Brett Drewitt). He won the Beijing Open and was 2nd at Yunnan Open. He finished 2nd on the money list and that was supposed to get him a Korn Ferry Tour exemption, but it was determined Zhang signed a pair of incorrect scorecards and lost the exemption and was suspended by the China Golf Association for six months.
2015 Notes: Played in 18 events, 12 of them on the PGA Tour China Series. He was 2nd at the Eternal Courtyard Open and then won the Chongqing Open, followed by a T-5th at the Hainan Open and a T-4th at the Capital Airline. He finished 3rd on the Order of Merit. At the end of the year did go to America and try to qualify for the Korn Ferry Tour but finished 108th.
2016 Notes: Played in 16 events with 11 of them on the PGA Tour China Series. Was 2nd at the Henan Open, losing a playoff to Dou Zecheng. Was 2nd at the Pingan Bank Open, a shot back of winner Charlie Saxon. Was T-5th at the Clearwater Bay Open, three shots back of the Daniel Nisbet/Alex Kang playoff. Was 4th at the Putian Open, five shots back of winner Taewoo Kim. He finished the year 5th on the Order of Merit. Did return to America and this time was successful in qualifying for the Korn Ferry tour finishing T-23th.
2017 Korn Ferry Tour Summary: Tournaments Entered - 24; Rounds Played - 70; In Money - 12; Top-10 Finishes - 4; Scoring Average - 70.71 (Rank 82nd); Regular Season Money - $186,306 (Rank 20th); Playoff Money - $2,590 (Rank 113th); Priority Rank - 42nd; Best Finish - 2nd at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open and T-2nd at the BMW Charity Pro-am. Was able to secure a PGA Tour card for 2018 with a 20th place finish on the money list.
2018 Notes: Played in 28 PGA Tour events making 12 cuts with one top-ten finish. Was 167th in the FedExCup standings. Had one top-ten, T-5th at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship. Went to the Korn Ferry Finals and missed the cut in all four events. Had to return to Korn Ferry Q-School and finished T-3rd so that he could return to the Korn Ferry Tour in 2019.
2019 Korn Ferry Tour Summary: Tournaments Entered - 22; Rounds Played - 80; In Money - 19; Top-10 Finishes - 7; Scoring Average - 69.46 (Rank 3rd); Regular Season Money - $410,100 (Rank 2nd); Playoff Money - 84.929 points (Rank 58th); Priority Rank - 2nd; Best Finish - Winner Dormie Network Classic at Briggs Ranch & Lincoln Land Championship. Was 2nd at Panama Championship, was T-3rd at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open & Knoxville Open (he had five, top-three finishes) Was able to secure a PGA Tour card for 2020 with a 2nd place finish on the money list.
2020 Notes: Was T-7th at the Safeway Open. T-4th at Houston Open, three shots back of winner Lanto Griffin. Was T-10th at the Memorial.