Jeffrey Guan: Australian golfer blinded in one eye by freak accident shortly after PGA Tour debut

Guan is a two-time Australian junior amateur champion, following in the footsteps of major winners Adam Scott, Jason Day and Cameron Smith by winning the title.

He then achieved a long-held dream by making his PGA Tour debut, at the Procore Championship in California, playing in a field featuring American Ryder Cup pair Wyndham Clark and Max Homa, plus English former Masters champion Danny Willett.

A week later, he was back in New South Wales playing the pro-am at Catalina Club – where the unthinkable happened.

Having hit his second shot from the third fairway, Guan turned towards his buggy to put the iron back in his bag.

“That was when I was struck,” Guan said.

“I remember I dropped to the floor and I could feel a throbbing pain at the top of the left hand side of my head. I wasn’t too sure what it was.

“It was a massive area around the eye and the cheekbone and later I found out it was fractures around the eye.

“I don’t really recall too much about what happened after that. I just remember being taken to hospital.”

In intensive care, Guan was alone with his thoughts every night.

The frustration was “unbearable” as he tried to process what had happened and the prospect of potentially losing his career.