Australian rising golf star Jeffrey Guan, who made his US PGA Tour debut last month, has vowed to play on despite losing sight in one eye after a freak on-course accident.

Guan, 20, was hit in the face by a ball at a tournament south of Sydney in late September, suffering a serious fracture to his left cheekbone and eye socket.

The PGA of Australia revealed he had “permanently lost vision in his left eye”.

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In his first statement since the accident, Guan — a former Australian junior amateur champion like Adam Scott, Jason Day and Cameron Smith — said he was “utterly distraught”.

“During my nights in hospital I almost drowned in thoughts about the injury and my future in the sport,” he said.

“Not only was I utterly distraught by the news I had received, but the whole situation made me very depressed and somewhat angry.

“These four weeks have been the toughest of my life,” he added. “But I am stronger mentally and will be ready to conquer any obstacle in the future.

“I will be back.”

Before the accident, Guan had signed with the same management company that boasts major winners Jon Rahm and Phil Mickelson.

He received a sponsor invite to the PGA Tour Procore Championship in California, where he hit a 69 and 75 to narrowly miss the cut.

Speaking to Australian Golf Digest, Guan recalled how “instant ringing and pain” rushed to his head after being hit by the ball.

“I was conscious but it was very, very hard to tell for me. Voices were really muffled and I just couldn’t really hear much,” Guan said.

“I heard people asking me if I was OK, but it was just very faint. I felt a pain on top of the left side of my head and I had no idea where it hit me.

“As I fell to the ground, I remember I just saw blood coming out of my eye and then the next thing I know, I had a towel over my head.”

The next thing Guan knew he was being taken in an ambulance to Moruya Hospital and later airlifted to Canberra, where he had his first surgery.

“Honestly, the pain was just so much,” Guan said of the experience.

“I was just trying to get through that. There was not much else I could really think about. It just hurt so much around the eye and then obviously I had a patch over it as well, so I didn’t know what was going on.

“I kept telling myself, My parents are going to be here soon. I had spoken to them earlier, so I knew I just had to hang in there for an hour or so until they got there.”

Guan said he “couldn’t move” and that even wiping something on his face was “difficult”.

As for what the incident means for his golf career, Guan said improving depth perception would be a focus, adding that initially included “basic stuff like picking things up from the table and then looking at objects from different points”.

He hasn’t even hit a golf shot yet, instead settling for a couple of putts — and the first one he hit went in, by the way.

As for what the timeline looks like from here, Guan said he was given a “rough estimate from six months to a year”.

“That’s how long the injury will take to settle down and sort itself out,” he said.

“But six months is the earliest I can get slowly get back into full practice and where everything could be back to the new normal and things are more stable.

“I mean, obviously the chance is still there to lose the eyeball, but obviously it’s going to be very minimal, mainly because throughout this little period when it’s been stable, that’s going to help it repair and grow stronger over the next six months.”