[Picture: David Tease/Golf NSW]
In a recent practice round, it took tour pro Jeffrey Guan about 12 minutes to walk up the par-5 18th and onto the green to read his eagle putt at The Australian Golf Club. But the moment—shooting under par for the first time since a life-changing accident—was 11 cruel months in the making. The Sydney native was already three under and the subsequent two-putt birdie for a 68 finally felt like something over the past year had come easy.
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Yet nothing had been remotely close to effortless in the days, weeks and months after Guan’s life and promising golf career was upturned by a freak accident during a pro-am in September 2024 that left him blind in his left eye.
But 11 months after the accident, Guan, 21, will cement one of the year’s most remarkable sports stories when he makes a return to pro golf this week in the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia’s Northern Territory PGA Championship in Darwin.
“I shot four under at The Australian GC, and I’d hit the green in two on 18,” Guan told Australian Golf Digest on Tuesday about his third time back playing an 18-hole round after his accident. “It was an easier feeling being on the green and already under par. It was cool.
“Playing at The Australian GC has been surreal, honestly; there’s so much support and people just encouraging me to keep going. The first couple rounds back I shot in the mid-70s and shooting under par [was emotional].”
Jeffrey Guan hits a drive during the PGA Tour’s 2024 Procore Championship in Napa. Al Chang
Last September, Guan had returned to Australia after the PGA Tour’s Procore Championship in Napa, California where he played on a sponsor’s invitation and missed the cut by a single shot. A week later, during a qualifying tournament on the NSW South Coast, a ball hit by a pro-am partner smashed the left side of his face. Guan was airlifted to hospital and underwent multiple surgeries that, ultimately, were unable to reverse the loss of vision in the left eye.
Golf is often described as a cruel game, but there were no words to describe how unjust an outcome this was for a former amateur star so highly touted he was signed by Sportfive, the agency that counts Jon Rahm among its clients. Before turning pro, Guan had won the 2022 Junior Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in record-setting fashion, and he’d played for the International team in the Junior Presidents Cup that year. He received a scholarship from fellow Australian and 2022 British Open winner Cam Smith.
After the accident, Guan had to re-learn how to write, drive a car, kick a soccer ball, play video games and eventually the sport he loves under his new circumstances.
The most difficult part of the gruelling recovery?
“I think it could have been when I lost the eyesight and then the depth perception became really bad, really poor,” Guan said over the phone. “I couldn’t really even pick up a bottle [of water] at the hospital. It didn’t help that I couldn’t go outside. I couldn’t walk [for a period of time] because I had to keep the eye clean and stable.
“Coming back from that 12-month process and escalating slowly, to driving in a car and then slowly chipping and putting was probably the hardest process. Within those months, I couldn’t do anything and, mentally, I wasn’t feeling too great.
“Off the golf course, I’m a heavy gamer, so as soon as I was able to use technology, I was fixated on it before golf came back into my life,” Guan added with a laugh. “I was playing different games and honestly thought I had a different aspiration: [becoming] one of the top 100 gamers in the world. I moved on from that after I picked up a golf club again.”
In an interview with Australian Golf Digest last month Guan said he thought there was “no chance I’d be playing this season.” But with a measured rehabilitation period, serious practice and fundraising efforts from family, friends and the wider golf community, Guan is ready to complete his incredible comeback on the Australian tour. He’s been preparing with his swing coach, Gary Barter, his team and his father, Ken, who drives an Uber to support his son’s comeback. Depth perception in bunkers remains the biggest challenge, while the attack angle in his swing is different. But Guan feels he is striking the ball well.
Guan will tee up at the NT PGA on Thursday in Australia after the PGA Tour of Australasia granted him a medical exemption to have full status this season.
“I’m definitely excited for this week,” Guan said moments before heading out for his first practice round at the Palmerston GC in the Northern Territory. “I’ve been practising quite hard with my dad. I’m coming here with no expectations, though, and I think I’m just going to play and see where my game’s at; see whether my tournament golf spirit comes back or not. I’m really excited, and the game is feeling pretty good.”
Guan’s story is reminiscent of the legendary Tommy Armour, who lost sight in one eye due to a mustard gas explosion in World War I, only to win the 1927 US Open, 1930 PGA and 1931 Open Championship. In the 1960s, Col Johnston won the Australian PGA twice after he lost an eye in his 20s. This past college season, Marine Legentil, who was born blind in her left eye, fulfilled her dream of playing Division I golf at Augusta University and earned All-Southland Conference honours.
Jeffrey Guan (right) poses with Min Woo Lee during the 2023 Australian PGA Championship. Andy Cheung
Guan’s return has captured the attention of some of golf’s biggest stars, including fellow Australians such as 2013 Masters champion Adam Scott and this year’s Houston Open winner, Min Woo Lee.
“There’s been golfers and even [people on social media I haven’t met] who have gone through the same incident and it’s really helpful,” Guan said. “Min Woo and Adam have reached out. Adam has got such great character; he’s such a role model. His message was along the lines of, ‘Get well, I hope you recover soon, and want to see you smashing it back out there on tour.’”
Perhaps the message that Guan, who has Chinese heritage, will lean on most will be one of the morals from the story of Sun Wukong or “Monkey King”, a legendary, Chinese literary figure who has inspired works from 16th century novels to Marvel and DC comics and cartoons like Dragon Ball Z. The original historical inspiration for the mythical Sun Wukong was a real-life Buddhist monk in China, “Xuanzang,” who in 629 undertook a 16-year, 10,000-mile journey to track down holy texts in India.
Guan’s journey has also been long, and he accepts it’s far from over.
“My dad introduced me to this ancient Chinese movie called “Monkey King”; I’ve had that logo on my bag and on my wedges,” Guan said. “There are different interpretations, but basically [the message is], ‘You’ve got to be patient and work hard and get through this.’”