Chinese Taipei’s C.T. Pan came through a remarkable 7-man playoff, one that included the likes of Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa and home favourite Hideki Matsuyama, to secure a bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on Sunday.
United States based Pan, donned in Fenix XCell apparel during the week due to our sponsorship of the Chinese Taipei national golf teams, began the tournament in nearly last place following an opening 74, but rose up the leaderboard in spectacular style with rounds of 66, 66 and a closing 63.
The gold medal was won by American Xander Schauffele, with Slovakia’s Rory Sabbatini picking up silver. Incredibly, the bronze-medal position was occupied by 7 men, including the aforementioned players plus Paul Casey, Sebastian Munoz and Mito Pereira.
Of the star studded list, most money would have surely been on the recently crowned Open Champion Collin Morikawa, home-favourite Hideki Matsuyama, or the 4-time major champion Rory McIlroy.
“Yeah, I mean I’ve never been in a playoff with that many people, seven people for one spot, which is pretty crazy,” Pan said. “And if you look at the field in the playoff we got Rory McIlroy, Collin, we got I don’t know two, three top-10 guys in the world. And we got me, 200 ranked, shooting plus 3 on Day 1, didn’t know what to do on Thursday.”
It was Pan, though, ranked 208th in the world, who outlasted the competition to secure his country’s first ever medal in Olympic golf by holing a gutsy 7 footer for par at the 4th playoff hole.
"If you look at the field in the playoff we got Rory McIlroy, Collin, we got I don't know two, three top-10 guys in the world. And we got me, 200 ranked, shooting plus 3 on Day 1, didn't know what to do on Thursday.”
Pan credited his wife Michelle – also wearing Fenix XCell’s Iona Light Blue Performance Polo – who caddied for him during the week, for keeping him calm.
“She’s great, she’s a great caddie, but she definitely keeps the mood very light for me and it helps me to focus more. So, I want to thank her for that.”
The Women’s Olympic Golf Tournament commences on Wednesday August 4th, with the team from Chinese Taipei again wearing Fenix XCell apparel during the week. Best of luck to Lee Min and Hsu Wei-Ling for hopefully another medal!
