It took a professional career, an old friend and close family to ultimately convince Alex Ching that golf would no longer be in his future.

Traveling alone and a case of “the yips” were just part of the process. Missing his “team” meant much more, which has brought him back home with a new career and the same attitude that took him to No. 3 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and top-25 finishes on the PGA Tour’s Latinoamerica and China tours.

The 2008 Punahou graduate vividly remembers sitting alone in his hotel the night before the final round of a PGA Tour China event in Sanya a few years ago.

“It’s beautiful there, in the southern-most part of China and exactly like Hawaii,” Ching recalls. “I was playing really well, in fifth place, and laying in the room thinking I don’t want to do this anymore. I’m not happy. I’m not excited about playing the final round and trying to catch the leader.

“That’s when I knew I needed to do something else. Because golf always has been something that made me happy and it wasn’t making me happy.”

When he looks back, all he would change would be to have his “team” of friends, family and mentors closer to lean on. That wasn’t possible when he turned pro in 2012 and started to see the world, out of necessity.

“What people don’t understand is the lead-up to the PGA Tour is the toughest part,” Ching says. “It’s not like any other career where you start with a base salary.”

He “grew up in Hawaii learning to be happy with anything you do.” A few years into professional golf he felt he had given himself “every opportunity to succeed,” but was no longer happy.

It was in stark contrast to a dynamic amateur career here and at the University of San Diego, where he won three college tournaments and nearly captured the NCAA championship as a freshman.

He and sister Alina — who reached the final of the 73rd and last Hawaii State Women’s Match Play Championship while playing for Pepperdine — started in golf walking Oahu Country Club’s treacherous hills as kids.

Alex didn’t hit his stride as a junior because he was also a gifted tennis player, winning two state high school doubles titles. He closed his high school career by qualifying for the Sony Open in Hawaii and winning a state high school golf championship.

Now he is back and hopes to be part of a team that helps Hawaii juniors find their way through tough times in college and professional golf, while continuing his career at WestPac Wealth Partners. He and business partner Spencer Dung, a friend since fifth grade, transferred home the end of last year after starting their “full service financial planning” business in San Diego.

Ching’s new career is a drastic change in some ways, and happened in large part, again, with help from his “team.” Dung, who majored in economics and whose mother and grandfather worked in the financial industry, helped Ching understand the business. Ching’s father, Steve, had been talking to him about the economy every Sunday night for the past decade.

In other ways, a job that involves offering educational workshops and getting people focused on where they want to be in five, 10 or 15 years made a lot of sense for Ching.

Dung, who earned 10 letters at Punahou and won state championships in swimming and ILH titles in water polo, went into business as soon as he graduated from UC San Diego. He felt his friend would be a natural fit.

“I saw a lot of things in him that are what I look for in new advisors,” he said. “He is passionate and motivated. As former athletes we know trials, but we also know how to be winners. That’s something that we were born with — to learn how to be successful and be a winner and he’d done that at the highest level. I’ve watched him work hard and persevere, and then there’s the fact that who does not like talking to Alex Ching? His personality is great. I absolutely felt he could be successful in our industry.”

Ching is happy to have found another challenge to “give his heart to,” just as he gave it to golf. There are no regrets and he and Dung are back home, with their teams intact — with the exception of a couple high school golfing buddies.

“No matter what you do as an athlete, it’s tough to make it as a professional,” Ching says. “I think Michelle (Wie) and Stephanie (Kono) have done incredible jobs in their sport and done really well. It is up and down the whole time.”