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Aussie golfer Kevin Yuan reckons the chance to play in Greg Norman's lucrative LIV Invitational Series opener in England is a game changer for him.
Greg Norman's breakaway golf tour may not enchant everybody - but for his fellow Australian Kevin Yuan, it feels like the chance of a lifetime.
Much has been made of the 'greed' of already richly rewarded superstars who've joined Aussie golfing great Norman's divisive, Saudi-funded LIV Invitational Series with the prospect only of reaping more millions.
Yet Sydney's Yuan, a little-known China Tour journeyman who battles to make ends meet in a precarious career, has another story to tell about this week's series opener at the Centurion Club in St Albans.
For a 25-year-old not even in the world's top 1000 players, the last-minute chance to compete in the new, lucrative three-day event may have resurrected a career which he feared might be nearing an end.
"It's definitely going to go a long way to helping my career, my family - and that's what really matters," smiled the 25-year-old, telling AAP of his transformative week.
At the weekend, he was competing at Slaley Hall in the Asian Tour's International Series England, and enjoyed easily the biggest pay-day of his career with a ninth-place finish earning him $US34,000 ($A47,000).
Yet he didn't even realise he'd won an even bigger prize - qualification for this week's event, which will net him $US120,000 ($A166,000) even if he finishes last of the 48-man field.
Should he win, he'd collect the biggest prize in world golf this year - $4 million ($A5.5m) - as well as the prospect of sharing a $US5 million ($A6.9m) pot on offer in the team event that runs alongside the $US20 million ($A28m) individual tournament.
"It's such an opportunity for me. I'm in such a different position than I was just a week ago. My family too - so I'm really trying to grab everything I can because this chance is so good," an almost-disbelieving Yuan said about the thought of his first six-figure pay day.
He and dad Shu, who'll be caddying for Yuan at Centurion, couldn't believe it when they were told that he'd made the cut for this week.
"After Slaley Hall, we were heading up to Edinburgh for some sightseeing, and 40 minutes up the road, I got this phone call from one of the Asian Tour guys, saying, 'you might get into the LIV event, you should turn around!'."
Yuan, the world No.1050, reckons he lost two good years when his career stalled during the COVID pandemic and then he found it difficult when resuming around the turn of the year, missing cut after cut.
"I always feel every week there's a bit of pressure, having to make the cut at least to cover my expenses for the week or I'm going to be more and more in the hole," he said.
"I've been a professional for five years and I would probably have thought about quitting if it hadn't worked out this season.
"But the money from here will keep me going; just playing this event is definitely going to help me for a long, long time, I'd say."
