C.T. Pan - A Hard Road From Taiwan To The Tour

WE DIDN’T HAVE MUCH when I was a kid.

I was one of six, and we had cousins living with us, too. There was so little room that I shared a bed with my parents and other siblings until I was a teenager. The only way I could play golf was by sneaking on our local course. I’d wake up before 4 a.m. and get in nine before the clubhouse opened, and another nine after it closed. I didn’t know until later that the golf shop knew—they always know, right?—but looked the other way. Especially when they found out I was good.

My mom introduced me to the game when I was 5. She was a caddie, which is not a very good paying job in Taiwan, but she thought I might enjoy it. Then Tiger Woods blew up in 1996, and my dad looked at me and my potential and said, “You’re going to do that.”

My father was harsh on me, very strict. In the morning he would drop me off a mile down the hill from our house, and I had to run back to earn breakfast. I loved to play golf, but I didn’t really have a choice—he was going to make me play and practice every day.

They are tough memories . . . but he did it because he wanted the best for me. And, looking back, it gave me my drive and self-discipline, and most importantly, humility.