Standing at a pro shop counter in Sydney’s southern suburbs, collecting $48 per player on a busy Saturday, is a bit different to vying for a share of US$6 million (A$8.5m) on the PGA Tour.
The stark difference between reaching the game’s biggest stage and selling Mars bars and cleaning carts within two years is the reality that has helped inspire Jeffrey Guan’s latest push.
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At just 20 years old, Guan made his debut on the PGA Tour at the Procore Championship in 2024.
Weeks later, a shocking incident in a pre-tournament pro-am brought not only his bright career to a screeching halt, but also changed his life.
Considered one of Australia’s brightest golfing prospects at the time following a glittering amateur career, Guan was struck in the eye by a golf ball.
Multiple surgeries following that ultimately would fail to return sight to his left eye.
“I remember this: As my whole group teed off on the third tee, my playing partner and I (whom I shared the cart with) hit our drives on the right-hand side of the fairway,” Guan, who suffered serious fractures to his cheekbone and eye socket, said in a statement at the time.
“I drove up to his ball, and he hit his second shot (about 30 metres behind my ball).
“After he had hit, there was no sign of anyone or anything on our side behind us, so I drove us to my ball. It took roughly 45 seconds for me to prepare and execute my shot.
“As I turned towards the cart to put my club away, that was when I was struck.
“The instant ringing and pain rushed to my head, and I dropped to the ground. Voices sounded pretty muffled, and the next thing I knew, I was in an ambulance being transported to a hospital with skin patches containing high doses of fentanyl.”
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For the next six months, Guan was in and out of hospital for surgeries as the pressure around his eye was eased.
Whether he would return to a normal life, let alone one as a professional golfer, was a question that couldn’t be answered confidently.
But while the life and career of Guan now certainly looks different, the 22-year-old is remarkably still showing signs of why so many had high hopes of him being Australian golf’s next big thing.
When returning from the life-altering injury in late 2025, he finished inside the top-10 in just his second start back.
There’s been more missed cuts than made since then, yet Guan’s off-season from the PGA Tour of Australasia has helped motivate him to continue — even if there is no change to his sight, and after periods of doubt while away from competitive golf.
“No, not at all. No,” Guan said at this week’s Players Series South Australia when asked if there has been any return of vision to his left eye.
“I’m still seeing doctors here and there. The good thing is, it’s not every two weeks now, it’s every couple months, so I’m really glad about that.
“It seems to be going on the right track. It’s stable but no, no, it’s still nothing out of it.”
Having captured the golf world’s attention at the time of the incident, and with his return to the Aussie Tour just 12 months later, Guan needed a break following last season.
He had finished in the top-25 on five occasions, but never truly challenged for a title.
The time away — partly spent working in a pro shop — offered a chance for him to reflect over whether or not he still wanted to pursue his dream as a professional golfer.
“I took some time off I think I just, mentally, I wasn’t always there yet,” Guan told foxsports.com.au this week at Willunga Golf Course, site of the Players Series: South Australia hosted by Greg Blewett.
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“I feel like the season gave me a lot of positive as well as negatives and from what I saw from my stats … I just thought I need to improve on something different and the first step I took was taking a bit of time off golf.
“I started working at a pro shop just to see what it was like and fill in the hours that I had to do and it was interesting.
“It gets pretty hectic around there and on the Saturdays that I worked, it gets pretty full on, you know, with the double tee times and people walking in and out of the shop.”
He added: “I mean, it definitely makes me want to just keep playing golf and not work in a shop.
“I guess that was a really good confidence booster.”
That confidence from the time off, and the hopes to avoid the pro shop life that has claimed so many other talented players in the past, were on display early in his season return at Kalgoorlie earlier this month.
Guan made the cut before a different injury relegated him to last money.
“I think we’re getting there. I had a bit of an injury during the WA PGA after the second round,” Guan said of his right arm.
“Could barely hit the ball from the third and fourth round, but we slowly get back into it.”
Making just one bogey in round two of last week’s WA Open to miss the cut by one shot, Guan’s sunny disposition remains despite all his setbacks, and the required learning of playing with a literal new outlook.
Swinging the golf club seemingly exactly the same as before his incident, Guan’s primary issues come closer to the green.
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The lack of vision in his left eye drastically affects his depth perception, which causes major problems in bunkers, and from uneven lies.
Shots from the sand — where he is trying to strike the bunker before the ball — prove particularly difficult.
Guan has consulting specialists on depth perception in his return to combat the issue, but otherwise, he now has a fairly simple approach … just don’t hit it in the bunkers.
“I’ll try to be, obviously, but I think it’s slowly getting there,” Guan said of trying to become the best bunker player with sight from only one eye.
“Not to jinx myself, but I haven’t really bladed any bunker shots or hit anything poorly. I’ve been getting the mindset of just hitting on the green and then trying to get as close to the hole as I can.
“Mainly it’s just to play a bit smarter. Off the tee, if I use the right clubs to have shorter distances in, then I’ll have less bunker play.”
Beyond golf and his studies, Guan is also continuing his passion to maybe become one of the world’s best video gamers having spent plenty of time on screens following his accident.
“Other than golf, that’s probably what I do,” he said of his two-year obsession with video game Marvel Rivals.
“I love gaming and I don’t think anything can change that.”
The other unchangeable aspect of Guan’s new reality has been his amazement at the levels of support, and breadth of far flung messages, since his career and life was changed in unimaginable ways.
“I’ve been reached out to by so many people, even those who have gone through similar incidents, and they’ve actually gave me so many good pieces of advice that I can take into different events and slowly build my game to the better,” Guan said.
“I think that with the golfing community and so much help behind me, it’s just, makes me want to keep playing and helps me just be the best person I can be.”
Guan opened his account at Players Series South Australia with a first round of 2-under 68 to sit four back of early leader Ben Eccles.
Guan managed to avoid the bunkers at Willunga on day one, and appeared comfortable back on the professional golfing stage — albeit one offering 13 per cent of the winner’s cheque at the 2024 Procore Championship in total prizemoney.
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