Jeffrey Guan at the Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge in France earlier this year.
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Last month, Jeffrey Guan made his PGA Tour debut Procore Championship.
He missed the cut, but just competing in the event was a massive achievement for the 20-year-old Australian pro.
Then, a week later, everything changed.
Playing in a pro-am during regional qualifying for the NSW Open in Australia, Guan suffered a fractured left cheekbone and eye socket after being hit by a loose ball.
There have been few details about what happened, but on Thursday Guan admitted Instagram to explain the incident, its consequences and recovery.
He also made a promise.
Guan said on the third hole, he and his playing partner both hit drives to the right side of the fairway. His partner hit first, and then Guan drove up and played his ball. After hitting, he turned and walked back towards the cart to put his club in his bag, and then he was hit by a ball that came in.
“Immediate ringing and pain rushed to my head and I fell to the ground,” Guan wrote on Instagram. “The voices sounded pretty muffled and the next thing I knew, I was in an ambulance being transported to a hospital with skin patches containing large amounts of Fentanyl.”
Guan was taken to Moruya Hospital and then flown to Canberra for treatment by an eye specialist. He had his first operation that night – “I was in excruciating pain and anxiety about my future was swirling,” he wrote – and a day later had a second procedure at the Sydney Eye Hospital.
For the next two weeks, Guan was in intensive care. He said he completely lost the sight in his left eye.
“There wasn’t much I could do,” he wrote. “Sleeping was difficult, let alone walking or eating. Any activity that required energy meant I was in excruciating pain.”
Three weeks after the accident, Guan learned that the pressure in his eye had finally decreased toward normal levels and his eye was more stable.
“This was the first positive news,” he wrote.
However, doctors told him he had several fractures around his eye socket and his recovery would take at least six months to a year.
Two years ago, Guan won the Junior Players Championship and played in the Junior Presidents Cup. In 2022-2023 he played well enough on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia to earn a promotion to the Australasian PGA Tour, and in November 2023, after finishing 9th in the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship – a tournament that gives the winner an invitation to the Masters — he turned pro and joined the Australasian PGA Tour. He had a top-five finish at the Victorian PGA Championship in just his second start, and has since added three top-10s.
Guan won a sponsor’s exemption at Procore in Napa, Calif., but not long after his PGA Tour debut, he was stressing about his future from a hospital bed.
Guan said those nights were the hardest, and he said the situation made him depressed and angry and affected his emotional and mental health.
“Fortunately, I’ve been lucky enough to have a great group of supporters around me and I can’t thank them all enough for the support I’ve received in recent weeks,” he wrote. “I wouldn’t be where I am now without all the encouragement and help I’ve received. As a child, I always had a lot of perseverance and tenacity. I will continue to work hard and do my best to achieve my dream. These four weeks have been the hardest of my life, but I am stronger mentally and I will be ready to overcome any obstacle in the future.”
What about that promise?
Guan said four words: “I’ll be back.”
The Australian Sports Foundation launched an online fundraiser for Guan. You can donate here.
