SYDNEY, Sept 23, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - An emerging Australian golfer who made his US PGA Tour debut this month was fighting to save the sight in an eye Monday, after being struck by a ball during a pro-am event, officials said.

  Jeffrey Guan, 20, was hit in the face at a tournament south of Sydney and airlifted to hospital for surgery with his coach telling reporters there were "fears he may lose some vision".

  "Jeff was hit just below his eye, and received treatment on course, before being transferred to hospital for scans," the Australian PGA said in a statement of the incident on Friday.

  "He was then airlifted to Canberra to be assessed by an eye specialist."

  Guan recently signed with the same management company that boasts major winners Jon Rahm and Phil Mickelson and received a sponsor invite to the PGA Tour Procore Championship in California this month.

  He hit a 69 and 75 to narrowly miss the cut.

  "It's truly awful," his coach Paul Davis told the Australian Golf Digest.

  "It's just the worst possible news after such an amazing week in California."