Chen Tze-chung

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In this Chinese name, the family name is Chen.
Chen Tze-chung
Personal information
Born (1958-06-24) 24 June 1958 (age 63)
Height1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight72 kg (159 lb; 11.3 st)
Sporting nationality Taiwan
ResidenceTaipei
Career
Turned professional1980
Former tour(s)Japan Golf Tour
Asian Tour
PGA Tour
Professional wins16
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour1
Japan Golf Tour6
Other9
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT12: 1987
PGA ChampionshipT23: 1985
U.S. OpenT2: 1985
The Open ChampionshipCUT: 1987

Chen Tze-chung (Chinese: 陳志忠; born 24 June 1958) is a Taiwanese professional golfer. In the U.S., he is often referred to as T.C. Chen. His older brother, Chen Tze-ming, is also a professional golfer. In 1982, T.C. Chen became the first professional golfer from Taiwan to earn a PGA Tour card.[1] He played a total of 132 tournaments on the PGA Tour, making the cut in 78, with 13 top-ten finishes, and over $633,000 in total earnings.

At the 1985 U.S. Open, he scored the first double eagle in U.S. Open history and tied the record low scores for the championship at that time after 36 holes (134) and 54 holes (203), but he fell away in the final round and finished tied for second, one shot behind Andy North. His fourth round included a quadruple-bogey eight that featured a chip shot that he hit twice in one swing, and became part of the history of disastrous shots in the final round of a major. As a result of this shot, he is sometimes referred to as "Two Chip" Chen.[2]

Chen finished second twice in his career, at the 1983 Kemper Open, where he lost a five-man playoff to Fred Couples, and the 1985 U.S. Open. He played on the PGA Tour for 10 years, having his best year in 1987, when he finished 51st in earnings, 12th at the Masters, and won the 1987 Los Angeles Open. He would return to Asia in 1990, played extensively on the Japan Golf Tour, where he won six tournaments, and also appeared occasionally on the European Tour. He last played on the PGA Tour in 1997, returning to the U.S. to play in the Los Angeles Open. He played the 2008 Senior British Open on the Champions Tour and again returned to the United States for the 2012 U.S. Senior Open where he made the cut and finished 56th.

Professional wins (16)[]

PGA Tour wins (1)[]

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner-up
1 22 Feb 1987 Los Angeles Open −9 (70-67-67-71=275) Playoff United States Ben Crenshaw

PGA Tour playoff record (1–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 1983 Kemper Open United States Fred Couples, United States Barry Jaeckel,
United States Gil Morgan, United States Scott Simpson 		Couples won with birdie on second extra hole
Jaeckel eliminated by par on first hole
2 1987 Los Angeles Open United States Ben Crenshaw Won with par on first extra hole

Japan Golf Tour wins (6)[]

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner(s)-up
1 14 Jun 1981 Sapporo Tokyu Open −9 (70-66-74-69=279) 3 strokes Australia Terry Gale
2 28 Apr 1985 Dunlop International Open1 −11 (64-73-72-68=277) 1 stroke Japan Tsuneyuki Nakajima
3 26 May 1991 Ube Kosan Open −10 (69-74-66-65=274) 2 strokes Japan Saburo Fujiki
4 27 Sep 1992 Jun Classic −11 (68-71-67-71=277) Playoff Japan Masashi Ozaki
5 30 May 1993 Mitsubishi Galant Tournament −11 (71-72-66-68=277) 4 strokes Australia Brian Jones, Japan Yoshi Mizumaki,
Japan Tateo Ozaki
6 29 Aug 1993 Daiwa KBC Augusta −11 (71-69-68-69=277) Playoff Taiwan

1Co-sanctioned by the Asia Golf Circuit

Japan Golf Tour playoff record (2–3)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 1981 KBC Augusta Taiwan Hsieh Min-Nan, Japan Nobumitsu Yuhara Hsieh won with birdie on second extra hole
2 1984 Bridgestone Tournament Japan Yoshihisa Iwashita, Japan Masahiro Kuramoto,
Scotland Sam Torrance 		Kuramoto won with eagle on first extra hole
3 1992 Jun Classic Japan Masashi Ozaki Won with par on third extra hole
4 1993 Maruman Open Philippines Frankie Miñoza Lost to birdie on second extra hole
5 1993 Daiwa KBC Augusta Taiwan Won with birdie on second extra hole

Asia Golf Circuit wins (2)[]

Other wins (7)[]

  • 1984 King Grapes Classic (Japan)
  • 1989 Mercuries Taiwan Masters, Chang Hwa Open (Taipei), ROC PGA Championship (Taipei), Chang Kang Open (Taipei)
  • 1990 Japan Chunichi Crown Open
  • 1991 ROC PGA Championship (Taipei)

Japan PGA Senior Tour wins (1)[]

  • 2015 Iwasaki Shiratsuyu Senior Tournament

Results in major championships[]

Tournament 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
Masters Tournament T23 T12 T19 52
U.S. Open T2 T59 CUT CUT
The Open Championship CUT
PGA Championship 72 CUT T23 T47
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Summary[]

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 0 0 0 3 4 4
U.S. Open 0 1 0 1 1 1 4 2
The Open Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 3
Totals 0 1 0 1 1 5 13 9
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 5 (1985 U.S. Open – 1987 Masters)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 1

Team appearances[]

Amateur

Professional

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Ballard, Sarah (16 June 1986). "Golf's own Chen Dynasty". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
  2. ^ Cook, Chuck (August 2008). "Golf's Most Embarrassing Shots". Archived from the original on 31 March 2015. Retrieved 5 May 2013.

External links[]

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