Will Ye Lei's victory on Thursday at the Women's China Tour's flagship event, the Oriental China Women's Open, push the pause button on the issue of more Chinese girls turning professional?
Ye Lei started playing on the women's tour at the age of 12 and already showed a talent for golf as a teenager, but she did not choose to change careers early, but went to the United States to study until she graduated from Stanford University in June this year.
The Oriental China Women's Open was her first victory since turning professional.
Ye Lei listed the victory, along with his college graduation, as the highlight of the year. "I've always been a studious, I like to Xi, and I have good grades in Xi, and I've dreamed of going to Stanford since I was a child," Ye Lei said.
However, professional football has also been her dream since childhood, so although she has two degrees in political science and psychology, she did not look for jobs in these two fields, but immediately turned professional. She took the LPGA exam and qualified for the 2024 season on the Epson Tour.
She thinks that studying in the U.S. has helped her in terms of golf skills alone, and this is mainly concentrated in the first two years. In particular, she gave an example: how to adapt quickly to the court?
In the first two years, I learned a lot Xi, including how to play when I wasn't particularly prepared. When I was a teenager, I was Xi going to the test site two or three days in advance, including an hour or two of warm-up before the next game, but college events, many times, immediately after getting off the plane on the same day, and there was no time to train, the next morning there may only be an hour to warm up, and the playing position had to be shared with teammates. "I've Xi learned how to adapt quickly through the college tournaments, and I think it will help a lot to deal with different courses in the next week of professional competition." ”
However, she admitted that in the next two years, because the learning Xi and the game schedule were relatively tight, her skills regressed a little. And she also considered whether to change careers early.
I can understand that, especially in women's golf, people are turning professionally at a relatively young age. A lot of people change careers after graduating from high school at the age of 18, or at the age of 20, so I myself sometimes feel a little impatient, and I feel that I should change careers, and I should go on the professional tour or something," Ye Lei said, "but in most fields, 22 (Ye Lei's current age) is the beginning of his career, and there is still a long way to go, so there is no need for me to rush." Looking back, I'm so grateful that I had the opportunity to go to Stanford and graduate.
I did consider changing careers after two years of study, but it happened to be the epidemic at that time, and in the summer of my sophomore year, the LPGA was not eligible for the school exam, and there were no professional competitions in various places, so I didn't change careers in my sophomore year, and when I went to my junior year, I thought that I would go to the third grade, so it was better to wait, plus I was not in a good state, and I felt that I should finish school at this time. ”
From the perspective of changing careers, Ye Lei may be four years late, but her life has enriched a lot, and from the pragmatism of the older generation, she also has one more way out. If her professional golf career wasn't going so well, she would have at least been at the age when she was supposed to be in school, and she could pursue many careers in the future....
Did Ye Lei's career inspire you in any way? Have you ever thought about what to do if you can't play the LPGA or the Day Tour due to injuries and other factors?
In fact, on the LPGA Tour, many players went to college, on the contrary, there are a few who did not go to college (mainly Asian players), but many of them did not finish their studies and changed careers, including Sorenstein (University of Arizona), Lorena Ochaya (University of Arizona), Julie Incoster (San Jose State University), Lilia Vu (UCLA), Wei Shengmei (Stanford), Zhang Siyang (Stanford) and so on.
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