By Arthur Utley
CHESTERFIELD – Ben
Cooper pulled off the shot of the day with no knowledge of how significant the
result was.
Kelly Chinn sank
the putt of the day with full knowledge of what it meant for him.
Richmond’s Cooper
and Great Falls’ Chinn claimed the two spots available for the U.S. Junior
Amateur in the local qualifier at Lake Chesdin Golf Club on Tuesday. The 72nd
edition of the national tournament will be played July 15-20 at Inverness Golf
Club in Toledo, Ohio.
Cooper, a St.
Christopher’s School graduate headed to the University of Richmond, holed a
40-yard pitch shot from behind the 18th green for a birdie to
capture the medal with par 72.
Chinn, who will be
a junior at Langley High in McLean, was part of a four-way playoff with Luis
Park of Virginia Beach, Connor Creasy of Abingdon and Everett Whiten Jr. of
Chesapeake for the second berth and two alternate spots after each posted
1-over 73.
Chinn and Park
parred the first extra hole (No. 18) while Creasy and Whiten made
double-bogeys. Chinn rolled in a 25-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole
(No. 18) then watched Park’s birdie try from 10-feet lip out.
Park, a Kellam High
graduate and VSGA Scholarship winner, is the first alternate, and Creasy, an
Abingdon High graduate who will play at the University of Georgia, earned the
second alternate spot.
Cooper, the
reigning Richmond Golf Association Men’s Amateur champion, will be playing in
his first U.S. Junior.
“It’s just a big
sigh of relief. The waiting is the worst part. I don’t get too nervous on the
course, but then back here (finished), it’s a totally different atmosphere. I
feel 100 pounds lighter now,” he said after all the scores had been posted. “I’m
super excited. It’s always been a goal of mine. I was really into it this year.
It’s my last year to do it so I was really focused on it. I think I was really
motivated to practice for this event. For it to come to fruition is an awesome
feeling.”
Cooper was 1 over
for the day when his second shot on the par-4 18th sailed over the
green into a soggy lie.
“I knew I was 1 over
at that time, which I really don’t like to know where I am, but I knew where I
was, and to be honest I didn’t think 73, 72 would have cut it. I had no clue.
Going in was a bonus…I didn’t think it would have any meaning behind it,” he
said.
He had an
opportunity for free relief because of temporary water.
“I liked the lie. I
didn’t have too much water around my feet, and the ball was sitting up. If I
was 5 under I probably would have done the same thing. It was comfortable with
me,” he said.
Cooper’s popped his
wedge shot over the back bank of the green onto a down slope. The ball rolled
through a low spot on the green and back up to hole. It went in on its last
rotation to the right.
When he signed his
card, he said the nerves kicked in because there were several groups still on
the course.
“Again, I wasn’t
really nervous out there, but it’s like, oh my, I actually have a chance here.
[The course] played tough. It was windy; it played a lot longer than the
yardage, but I thought there were low scores out there. In the end, even par
was enough,” Cooper said.
Chinn, the reigning
Virginia High School League Class 6 individual state champion, is returning to
the U.S. Junior. He earned his spot last year in a playoff. He went on to win
medalist honors at the national event at Baltusrol Golf Club in New Jersey.
“I have so many
great memories from last year’s Junior Amateur. Being able to go back there and
kind of re-live those memories; just to be at a USGA event is really awesome,”
Chinn said.
Chinn bogeyed the
18th hole in regulation to drop from even par to 1-over. He had to
sink a 3½-foot putt for par to stay alive on the first playoff hole.
When Park hit his
second shot on the second extra hole to 10 feet, Chinn’s mindset was “you’ve
got to make this. Don’t leave anything short. Just get it there and put the
pressure back on him,” Chinn said. “That’s what I tried to focus on throughout
my routine for that putt. I [put] a really good stroke on it, and it went
tracking towards the hole.”