Kelly Chinn has been thinking about this one for two years. It’s the last hurrah.
Chinn, 18, is one of only two players in this week’s U.S. Junior Amateur field at the Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst, North Carolina, making a third U.S. Junior appearance. In 2018, he was medalist at this event. In 2019, he lost in the semifinals.
“There was no doubt I would play this,” he said. “Probably the biggest junior event in the world and the most prestigious. No chance I’d miss this one.”
The close calls give Chinn, the AJGA’s Rolex Player of the Year in 2020, a little extra motivation, and a little extra experience – not that he needs it. So far this summer, Chinn has played the Sunnehanna Amateur, the Northeast and the North & South. He and partner David Ford were stroke-medalists at the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball at Chambers Bay in May.
“I think also my past experience gives me a lot of confidence going into this event,” he said. “I think out of all the top players, I think I’ve had a lot more experience than them. I think, especially going into match play, I’ll have a lot more experience and confidence going into that.”
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His best advice in that format?
“I think kind of just play your own game, not really focus on — obviously you’re playing match play against one person but the worst thing you can do it get ahead of yourself and start thinking about the outcomes of what you did before, in the previous match,” he said.
“You really just have to play your own game and really just avoid outside of what you can control. That’s something I’ve worked on over the years and something I’ve gotten a lot better at.”
If there’s one area that’s really improved since that 2019 semifinal run, it’s mental game. That, Chinn says wisely, just comes from the experience of playing more events and at a higher level.
The Pinehurst area has been a constant for many juniors. That starts with the U.S. Kids Golf World Championship. Pinehurst Resort hosts the North & South Junior and many players eventually graduate to the amateur version of that championship. Chinn has seen success there, too, and just last month made it to the Round of 16.
Chinn has also bounced around more than most, which adds considerable experience to his golf toolkit. Chinn’s father Colin retired as an admiral in the U.S. Navy in August 2019. Before that, the Chinn family moved frequently – Hawaii, California, Washington and then to Great Falls, Virginia, where they’ve been based the past four years.
Chinn has a familiar caddie on the bag this week in Danel Neben, his swing coach at TPC Potomac, a club just northeast of Washington D.C. Neben has caddied in Chinn’s last two U.S. Junior runs.
What’s perhaps a little unfamiliar? The courses. Chinn has seen them plenty before, having played a fair amount of golf in Pinehurst in general, but not in a USGA setup.
“They grew up the rough a little more – I think they’re trying to get to 3 inches – which is pretty long for Bermuda,” he said. “I know the greens are a lot firmer. So I think the setup, USGA usually always makes the courses really tough.”
Chinn has never been bothered by the challenge.
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