“Like my wife said, you just got to have fun. If she seen me out there not look, like I’m having fun, she’s going to be pissed,” said Yuan.

“I did a good job just keeping myself entertained, just really have fun. Not making golf swings, just hitting golf shots.

“It’s a really challenging course already and people are going to make mistakes. I just make sure I don’t spiral down on mistakes.”

Yuan’s second top-five result on Sunday, after a tie for fourth place at the Sony Open in Hawaii in January, ended a lacklustre run of form that saw him miss four cuts in six starts in between his two top-five finishes.

Yuan chipped in twice en route to a closing 3-under 68 at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course to finish on 8-under 276.

This put him four shots behind winner Peter Malnati, who claimed an emotional two-stroke victory over Cameron Young following a 67.

South Korea’s K.H. Lee was a further stroke back in a share of ninth after a 69 for his second top-10 finish in three starts. However, the two-time Tour winner was kicking himself after making two bogeys over his closing three holes.

Yuan, who gained a spot on the PGA Tour only because Jon Rahm left to join the LIV Golf League, said: “It was challenging and definitely played tough. I really hung in there, just trying to commit shot by shot.”

He said he didn’t let one bad shot or outcome to take his mind off his game. Instead, he said, he just kept “trusting it, committing it”.

“Fortunately enough, I had a couple chip-ins and that was very exciting,” he said.

The Chinese rising star chipped in from 35 yards for eagle on the par-5 fifth hole and then holed another chip from 56 feet on the eighth for birdie.

Yuan, who is seeking a maiden PGA Tour title, conceded his confidence was at its lowest following his lack of success despite starting the season strongly in Hawaii. He thinks the answer to his woes is to simply to swing it freely.

“You see pretty much everybody go on the range, work on stuff, you see coaches out here. It’s constant for a player to strive to be a better golfer in general, so definitely on the technical side we all want to be more consistent, but it may not work for everybody. Probably, particularly for me, that when I try to be too technical, like it just really takes my mind down a bad route,” said Yuan, who is expected to rise to 74th place on the FedEx Cup points list.

“So, me just hitting shot after shot, making different golf swings, I mean, if I want to hit a 50-yard hook, I’m going to hit one here. There’s no swing on the range a coach is really going to teach to you to hit a 50-yard hook, but that’s how I like playing golf. I think that’s where my talent is in this game. I got to make sure I don’t take myself out of that.”

An emotional Malnati snapped an eight-year winless streak to capture his second PGA Tour title in front of his family after surviving some nerves and a tough finishing stretch at Innisbrook.

“I was so nervous. I can’t describe it, it’s so cool. You wonder if you’re ever going to do it again. It’s hard. In the [eight] years since my last win, you look at the level of talent out here and the guys who are 20 years old coming out, they are just so good. To have this moment, it feels amazing,” said the 36-year-old American.