Chung a chilling U.S. Junior opponent
By DAN MIROCHA
Assistant Editor
David Chung entered the 2004 U.S. Junior Amateur as an unknown, 5-foot-5, 105-pound 14-year-old. A few inches, 25 pounds and three years later, Chung has built a reputation as a match-play wizard.
“Whenever I go to junior tournaments, people are like, ‘That’s the kid,’ ” he said.
Chung is scheduled to tee off 12:50 p.m. Monday at Boone Valley Golf Club outside St. Louis in the 60th U.S. Junior, his fourth and final appearance in the tournament that defines him.
Chung burst onto the national spotlight in 2004 at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, where he advanced to the U.S. Junior finals against Sihwan Kim.
Kim won, 1 up, but Chung’s legend had already started to grow.
In his quarterfinal match that year against Robert Riesen, a match Chung said is the most memorable of his career, he won five of the last seven holes, including the 18th where he rolled in a 12-footer for birdie to send the match to extra holes. Chung then won with a 15-foot birdie on the 19th hole.
“Somehow my game raised up to another level,” said Chung of his run to the ‘04 finals. “I wish I would have won, but it was a great experience and really boosted my junior career. It started everything.”
A year later at the ‘05 Junior at Longmeadow (Mass.) Country Club, Chung was 2 down with two holes to play in his second-round match against Rory Hie. Three holes later, he posted a 19-hole victory. Next came a third-round victory against Peter Uihlein –
Golfweek’s current No. 1 junior and probably this week’s favorite – in 21 holes. If that wasn’t enough, Chung then knocked off this season’s NCAA champion Jamie Lovemark in the quarterfinals with another 21-hole victory before losing to Bradley Johnson in the semis.
“He’s able to get up and down from weird places,” said Kim, whose victory over Chung at the ‘04 Junior made him the second youngest champion in event history. “That drives other people mad. When you expect him to get bogey, he makes par. And when he gets a birdie chance, he usually makes it.”
At last summer’s U.S. Junior at Rancho Santa Fe (Calif.) Golf Club, Chung posted consecutive 77s to miss the cut by four shots. It wasn’t necessarily a surprise, considering Chung had missed cuts at the FootJoy Boys Invitational and Rolex Tournament of Champions.
He bounced back quickly, shooting three rounds in the 60s to win the Lessing’s AJGA Classic in August. A couple months later, he took U.S. Junior champ Philip Francis to the 22nd hole of their cold and rainy match at the Polo Golf Junior Classic. Francis clinched the match in near darkness with a 4-iron to 4 feet from a pin hanging on the front edge of the fourth green at Sea Island Golf Club’s Seaside Course.
That’s usually what it takes to beat Chung.
“In match play you have a little different mindset,” Chung said. “You have to make birdies. It doesn’t really matter if you screw up on a hole. You really go for every thing. No fear. And that really helps me.”
• • •
Dan Mirocha is a
Golfweek assistant editor. To reach him e-mail
dmirocha@golfweek.com.
Top 10 players in field (according to Golfweek/Titleist Junior Rankings):1. Peter Uihlein
2. Bud Cauley
6. Wesley Graham
7. Cody Gribble
8. David Chung
11. Cory Whitsett
14. John Popeck
16. Luke Guthrie
18. Hunter Hamrick
20. Mu Hu
Posted: 7/22/2007
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