From Tāmaki Makaurau to the Sunshine State, Fiona Xu is driving her golf career forward as she makes the transition from successful amateur to the professional ranks.
The 19-year-old, who plays out of the Titirangi Golf Club in New Lynn, has recently joined the Epson Tour in the USA, which is the official qualifying tour for the LPGA Tour, the place to be for the elite in women’s golf.
Life on the tour has started well for Xu. She tied for 15th at the IOA Golf Classic in Longwood, Florida in her first event which took place between March 15-17, and followed that result up strongly last weekend, finishing 11th at the Atlantic Beach Classic, also in Florida. Both fields had 130 or more competitors.
She now heads back to New Zealand before flying back to the USA for the IOA Championship in California which starts on April 26, the first of four tournaments in four weeks.
Xu, who reached a high of 13th on the World Amateur Golf Rankings, made her professional debut at the Women’s China Open in December last year, following an invitation from the China Ladies Professional Golf Tour (CLPGA). The invitation came hot on the heels of her top 50 finish at the LPGA Tour qualifying school stage two, which secured her place on the Epson Tour. Xu finished in fourth place at the China Open, that tour’s flagship event, breaking par on all three days to finish on 10-under-par, four strokes behind the winner Angelina Ye Lei of China.
“Turning professional has always been one of my goals,” says Xu.
“I’ve represented New Zealand a few times and I’ve played all the top [amateur] tournaments that I wanted to play, so I thought if I want to become professional and reach my goal I would have to play more professional events.”
The Auckland-born Xu, who attended Epsom Girls Grammar School before being home schooled in tandem with her golf, opted out of further academic study.
“I decided not to go to college and go to qualifying school last year so I could get more experience and I think it was the best choice for me. It was a little tough but I learnt a lot and it showed me what’s to come,” she says.
After trying piano, running, basketball and swimming, Xu started playing golf seriously when she was nine years old. Before that, her mother Jiali would take her to the driving range after school where she’d hit 100 balls. Then, she started playing 9-hole tournaments, where she managed to qualify to play a US kids tournament at one of that country’s most famous courses, Pinehurst.
From then on, her father Jun would travel overseas with her whenever she travelled to play golf. Xu’s coach, Marcus Wheelhouse, is based at Royal Auckland. They communicate via video call, and she send him videos of her swing when she is overseas and they work face-to-face when she is in New Zealand.
“My family are my biggest supporters and Golf New Zealand have given me so many opportunities, so I’m very grateful. Titirangi Golf Club in is also very supportive with my golf journey,” says Xu.
In October 2020, Xu won the New Zealand Women’s Amateur Championship, defeating Tara Raj 3 and 1 in the 36-hole final at Poverty Bay Golf Club.
“I didn’t expect to go into the finals. I had to find another place to stay on the last day and fortunately Golf New Zealand was able to find me a billet and I remember that was my first time staying at someone’s house and it was really fun experience and I guess that really helped me on my last day, to relieve some pressure,” says Xu.
“I was more excited than nervous on the last day. I remember Tara’s putting [during the tournament] was really good and I knew putting would be a really important part of my game on that day and it went well,” she says.
However, her impressive progress was stopped in its tracks just a few months later, when she received news that stopped her playing for almost an entire year.
“I was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism,” says Xu.
“I remember my first event in 2021 was the North Island U19’s and I was travelling with the national academy and we all got this Whoop band that tracked our health data. We were looking at each other’s data and we all noticed that my heart rate was a bit high when I was playing, so after the tournament I went to my trainer and showed him my data and he said it’s not normal to have such a high heart rate while playing, so he recommended me to go to my doctor to check It out so I did. I got a few blood tests and it came out that my thyroid was a bit too active and so the doctors recommended I stop playing golf for a while,” she says.
In early 2022, Xu returned to play, and became the first New Zealander to win the Australian Women’s Amateur Championship since Lydia Ko in 2012. Xu led from start to finish in the 72-hole event, finishing 11-under-par for the tournament, to win by three shots.
“Winning the tournament that year was definitely not what I expected. In 2022 I played one event in February in Wellington and the next month I decided to go to Australia to play three events and because I hadn’t play golf for a while, I didn’t have any high expectations for myself,” says Xu.
“The first tournament I played was the Riversdale Cup in Melbourne and I ended up coming second. The second event was the South Australian Amateur Championship in Adelaide and I came second again. So that surprised me because I didn’t expect to have such good results after a break. Going back to Melbourne [for the Australian Women’s Amateur Championship] I was a bit nervous because it’s a big event in Australia but I just told myself not to think ahead and to just stay in the moment and just have fun,” she says.
Victory at Australian Women’s Amateur Championship secured Xu’s spot at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in Georgia in March 2023. Sadly, Xu failed to make the cut of the 54-hole event after the first two rounds at the Champions Retreat Golf Club in Augusta, meaning she missed the opportunity to play the final round at the famous Augusta National, one week before The Masters took place at the same course.
Xu represented New Zealand at the World Amateur Teams Championship in France in 2022 and Abu Dhabi in 2023, more significant highlights in her relatively short career.
“I was really excited because it was in France and we were playing some of the best golf courses. It was a really cool experience seeing a lot of the top players from around the world and from different countries. The courses were really tough and I remember the length was quite long for me but I was happy with where I finished at the end,” Xu says.
“Last year it was in Abu Dhabi and for that one I put more pressure, more expectation on myself as it would be my last event as an amateur. I ended up coming fourth and so I was happy with that result,” she says.
If Xu is able to finish in the top 15 on the Epson Tour at the end of 2024, she will qualify for the LPGA Tour. She is trying to keep things simple and having fun is her recipe for success.
“That’s all I’ve been thinking almost every tournament. It’s helped and I’ll continue to stick with that.”
