C.T. Pan is a player who has built a solid reputation since turning professional in 2015, and rose to prominence four years later with his maiden PGA Tour title and an appearance in the Presidents Cup. He has continued to impress since, too, and plays for Chinese Taipei at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. But how well do you know him? Here are 20 facts about the star.
1. Pan was born in Chinese Taipei on 12 November 1991.
2. His full name is Cheng Tsung Pan.
3. He is the youngest of six children, and has four sisters and a brother.
4. He started playing golf at the age of five after being introduced to the game by his mother, who was a caddie at a local golf course at the time.
5. Pan played college golf at the University of Washington from 2011 to 2015, studying communications. While there, he was named to the 2013 and 2015 Ping All-America first teams. He also finished second individually at the 2015 NCAA Championships.
6. In 2013, he spent eight weeks at the top of the World Amateur Golf Rankings.
7. Pan turned professional in 2015 and made his debut as a pro at that year's US Open at Chambers Bay, where he finished T46.
8. In the same year, while competing on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada, he left for his native Chinese Taipei after the Staal Foundation Open to serve 12 days in the military.
9. He represented Chinese Taipei at the Rio 2016 Olympics, finishing T30 in the 60-player men's field - it would be far from his last experience at the Games.
10. Pan has had one PGA Tour victory so far - the 2019 RBC Heritage. The win came in his 79th PGA Tour start at the age of 27, and with it, he became the second player from the country to win on the circuit, joining T.C.Chen, who won the 1987 Los Angeles Open.
11. Also in 2019, Pan made his first start at the Presidents Cup for the International team. Hosted at Royal Melbourne, in Australia, he played in three matches, compiling a 2-1-0 record at the match.
12. Pan's successes in 2019 helped him to his highest career world ranking to date - 47th, which he achieved on 23 June that year.
13. The following year, he achieved his highest finish at a Major in his career to date, T7 at The Masters.
14. That was also Pan's first appearance at the Augusta National tournament, and he didn't let the opportunity to go waste. Per Golfweek, he tried every variety of sandwich at the venue. His favorite? “After long debates with my wife, I want to say egg salad sandwich,” Pan said. “I’ve tried the pimento cheese, egg salad, the burger, the grouper sandwich, the fried chicken sandwich, all the sandwiches I could get. I tried them all.”
15. Pan qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. After the Games were postponed for a year because of Covid, he made his mark, finishing with the bronze medal after defeating six rivals - including Rory McIlroy - in a playoff.
16. Three years later, he qualified for his second Olympics appearance, this time at Le Golf National in Paris.
17. His wife is Yingchun Lin, or Michelle, and she has occasionally caddied for him, including at the 2020 Olympics. "She's the best," Pan told The Chronicle. "She helps me be more relaxed in general, every day."
18. Pan has said his dream foursome would include Luke Donald, Adam Scott and Gary Player.
19. He used to live in Bellevue, Washington, which is located just to the east of Seattle. Given that, it is no surprise his favorite sports team is the Seattle Seahawks.
20. Nowadays, we believe he resides in Houston, Texas.
