NOTE TO MEDIA: Links to scoring, the event preview, photos and previous recaps from this event can be found on the event portal at the link posted above. Please click on the “Media” tab to find those items.
By Chris Lang
NEWPORT NEWS – In a rare show of emotion on Thursday, Kelly Chinn raised his putter high over his head and brought his fist down in furious fashion. His birdie putt on the picturesque 18th hole at James River Country Club fell, and what had been inevitable for about 90 minutes became official: Chinn was the winner of the 68th Virginia State Golf Association Junior Stroke Play Championship.
The birdie finish was apropos, a perfect capper to a dominant three days in which he shot 65-64-65 for a record-shattering three-day total of 194. It should be noted that James River is a par-70 layout, but still, he defeated the old tournament record of 202, held by Jake Mondy, by eight strokes.
“I was playing really well this week, and to be able to finish it off with that birdie, that putt, it felt pretty good,” said Chinn, a Great Falls resident and member at Army Navy Country Club. “I always try to go as low as possible every day. I knew I was able to do it. The (record) is somewhat surprising, but I always knew I was able to do it.”
Chinn finished at 16 under par, five shots clear of runner-up and Langley High School teammate Chase Nevins (Trump National, Washington, D.C.). Ashburn’s Mehrbaan Singh (VSGA Junior Golf Circuit) finished third, seven shots back at 9-under 201. Virginia Beach’s Mason McCoy (203) and Cullen Campbell (204) rounded out the top five.
Chinn opened Thursday with a one-stroke lead over Nevins but took control early, making birdies on three of his first seven holes before a rare misstep on No. 8, where he made his second and final bogey of the 54-hole championship. Still, after 10 holes, Chinn’s lead over Nevins was a narrow two strokes, and a birdie-bogey swing could change the momentum quickly.
But Nevins got in trouble off the tee and struggled to a double bogey on No. 11. Chinn nailed his 15 footer for birdie and the lead had suddenly ballooned to five shots.
“It was definitely tough,” Nevins said. “I didn’t really get anything going all day. It was slow. I wasn’t making any putts. Things weren’t really going my way. Then that happened, and it kind of felt like a dagger.”
Singh tried to make a run and got within three strokes when he made an eagle on the par-5 10th. But he played the rest of his round at 1 over, making the last several holes a coronation for Chinn, who won his first VSGA championship.
One of the more striking things about Chinn is his ability to avoid mistakes, something of which the players chasing him this week were well aware.
“He’s pretty amazing to watch. Duke is getting a great player in 2021,” Singh said, referring to Chinn’s upcoming college career in Durham, N.C. “He’s exciting to watch.”
Chinn, who last year won the AJGA Rolex Tournament of Champions and advanced to the semifinals of the U.S. Junior Amateur, will travel to Oregon next week for the U.S. Amateur Championship riding a wave of confidence. If he had one major takeaway from the U.S. Junior experience at Inverness, it was that a deep run in a national championship is a major grind, both physically and mentally.
“It gets really tiring,” Chinn said. “I’ve been more focused on training for endurance. Also, mentally as well, because match play, all of those rounds, it can be tough. I’ve learned to keep my mental game sharp, and it’s something I’m working on for next week.”
In an event where college players and juniors tend to find great success, Chinn isn’t afraid to head to Bandon Dunes brimming with confidence.
“My goal all the time is to win. I’m going into that tournament trying to win,” he said. “I know there are a lot of great players there. It’s the biggest amateur (championship) in the world. But I believe I have the game to win. I’m going to go there and do my best.”
Lang is the VSGA’s manager of media and communications.