Out in the third group off the day from the 10th tee at the Tailor-made Building Services NT PGA Championship at Palmerston Golf and Country Club, Guan and playing partners were met by an unusually heavy fog.

It added an element the 21-year-old was not expecting ahead of his first professional round since a tragic accident less than 12 months ago that left him blind in his left eye.

“It was weird,” Guan said of conditions on Thursday morning.

“I took out my rangefinder on the first tee and I was trying to laser the tree at the back and then all of a sudden it was only eight metres. I’m like, Oh, okay. That’s a great start.

“It didn’t help that after I hit the ball, I had no idea where it was either. It was a bit of a weird, rough start as well as some unfortunate breaks on the fairways on the early holes, but that’s just golf. That’s just the game. That’s why I enjoy it.”


After missing the fairway just left at the par-4 10th, Guan pierced a gap in the trees with a 6-iron to 20 feet in the first sign that the talent that took him all the way to the PGA TOUR had not left him.

The birdie putt came up just short but a two-putt par was an ideal way to settle the nerves.

He hit a towering tee shot over the trees down the left of the par-4 12th only to have his ball come to rest in a divot in the fairway, his resulting pitch to the fringe of the green and three putts leading to an early bogey.

There were further bogeys at 14 and 15 as he turned in 3-over but clawed one back with a welcomed birdie at the short par-4 fifth.

“It was a great tee shot,” said Guan. “And then I left myself a pretty nice putt. I holed a couple putts before that, so I was feeling good with the putter, and then as soon as that went in, my dad gave me a really big fist pump and said, ‘Here we go. This is the turning point.”

Playing just his third 18-hole round of golf since the accident, fatigue contributed to a double-bogey at the par-4 eighth but he bounced back with birdie at his final hole of what is likely the most challenging round of golf he has ever played in his life.

“Teeing off the first was genuinely a great feeling,” he added.

“I wasn’t nervous at all from what I predicted the past couple of days, but there was a lot of mistakes out there and heaps of room for improvement.

“I’ll definitely take this as a good heads up for the next couple of days and let’s see if I can shoot a couple under par.

“I’m sort of getting back into the form that I felt prior to the accident. I hit a lot of shots out the middle of the face, mainly off the tee, which probably was the highlight of the day.

“My tee shots were very good, but then I hit some very loose shots towards the end around the greens. That cost me a double and then a couple shots that I could have saved.

“I think I’ve got a good feel of the course now and then with what I’ve done out there today, I know what I need to work on maybe this afternoon or tomorrow morning just to hopefully get that sorted.

“I’m looking forward to it again.”

Gold Coaster Jack Munro and Kiwi Jimmy Zheng posted the best of the morning scores with rounds of 4-under 67 with a total of 20 players within two shots of the lead.