(Reuters) - Rising talent Dou Zecheng became China's first player to secure a U.S. PGA Tour card on Sunday by winning the Digital Ally Open on the Web.com Tour. Dou's victory, the first for a Chinese on the developmental circuit, continues the 20-year-old's impressive rise after he bagged four titles in the PGA Tour China Series last year to top the Order of Merit and earn his Web.com card. Chinese golf has been hit hard by the ruling Communist Party's crackdown on corruption, with dozens of courses forced to close in recent years. The PGA Tour China, a circuit that offers promising Chinese golfers like Dou a chance to win a Web.com card, has struggled to get approvals for its tournaments, its managing director told U.S. media in May. China has only a few hundred courses, most with exorbitant green fees well beyond the budget of common people.

Source: The Star July 31, 2017 07:41 UTC