Jeremy Paul, twin brother Yannik share pro golf pursuit

Jeremy Paul pauses only briefly and then realizes, well, there’s a reason why he and brother Yannik have taken nearly the exact same path in their professional golf journeys – it’s because they’re twins.

“We are both very similar, which is why our results in the past have been very similar,” said Jeremy Paul with a laugh. “That’s what happens when you play golf all the time together – you end up being pretty similar.”

But this year is a rare one in their professional careers where they have status on two different tours.

Jeremy, who is the older twin by one whole minute, is playing on the Korn Ferry Tour this season after finishing tied for 11th at Final Stage of Q-School. He’s had a solid start to his 2022 campaign and feels close to breaking through for a big week. His results of late, he said, don’t reflect how good he’s been playing.

Jeremy’s brother Yannik, meanwhile, is in the midst of his debut campaign on the DP World Tour after finishing ninth on the Challenge Tour’s Order of Merit last year to earn a promotion. Both went to the University of Colorado, where Jeremy set or tied 24 Colorado school records, including the all-time lowest stroke average.

Jeremy turned professional a year prior to Yannik, who finished two seasons at Colorado before returning to their home country of Germany and turning pro there. The pair played soccer growing up but also led their high school golf team to runner-up results at Germany’s National School Team Championships two years in a row.

Jeremy said when the pair were 13, they were equal in both golf and soccer, and he admits he doesn’t remember when the time was right to choose golf. But he had some good success after coming to the U.S. and got better every year.

“When you come to college, you play tournaments against really good other players and I was like, ‘Wow, I could beat most of them,’” said Jeremy. “That’s how the side of wanting to play professional golf developed. You’re progressing and getting better and competing on an even higher level.”

Jeremy played 12 events on the Korn Ferry Tour the first year after turning professional in 2017. His best result was a T27 in Wichita. He and brother Yannik then spent a few seasons on PGA TOUR Canada, where Jeremy’s best season-ending position was 22nd on the Order of Merit. When the Forme Tour was established in 2021 (replacing PGA TOUR Canada for that season as an United States-based developmental Tour, due to COVID-19), Jeremy stuck around in America and finished 10th on that Points List, while Yannik headed home to play the Challenge Tour.

The first time Jeremy competed on the Korn Ferry Tour (2017) had been the last time the pair did not play the same kind of schedule.

“The last three or four years we were going along together, and it made a lot of things easier if you have your travel buddy and your best friend with you all the time,” said Jeremy. “But we figured with golf it was tough to go along every step of the way at the same time and make it on the same Tour.

“We were really stoked that we both had a good year and basically made the next step in our career … it happened to be for him in Europe and for me in the U.S.”

Jeremy said their long-term goal is to play on the PGA TOUR together. This year, their paths just happen to be starting at different points. Funny enough, they wouldn’t become the first set of twins to play on TOUR. Derek and Daryl Fathauer played the Ginn sur Mer Classic in Florida in 2007, while Nicolai and Rasmus Hojgaard teed it up together at the Corales Puntacana Championship earlier in 2022.

The Paul twins are nearly impossible to tell apart these days. For a while, Jeremy had glasses while Yannik got laser-eye surgery, but about three years ago Jeremy had the same procedure done and now they’re indistinguishable. Jeremy calls Scottsdale, Arizona home and lives with his girlfriend of eight years, Morgan, and their 6-year-old German Shepherd – a nod to the Pauls’ homeland. They’re often hosting friends at their home; they love to entertain.

With the Korn Ferry Tour’s schedule about to spark its hottest stretch of the year, however, Jeremy said he’s more about practice than parties these days.

He hasn’t set a bunch of result-specific goals for 2022, but instead he’s keen to focus on the process as he tries to get to the PGA TOUR for the first time.

“There are a lot of other goals that are set … and if I reach those goals, that should help me a lot to get my PGA TOUR card,” he said. “I set more specific goals with regards to development, where I’d like to get better, and how to improve my skill level.”

Jeremy admits that Yannik is “pretty good mentally” and perhaps the calmer twin on the course. But he said the brothers still help each other out as much as they can.

“That’s the biggest thing we’re missing out on,” said Jeremy. “But nowadays with technology and stuff we stay in touch all the time. Hopefully we’ll be reunited on the PGA TOUR maybe next year or down the road.”