Before they turned pro: Briana Chacon
24 Mar 2024
by Justin Golba of AmateurGolf.com
see also: Briana Chacon Rankings
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Briana Chacon (Oregon Athletics Photo)
Briana Chacon has won her first professional event, and it didn't take long for her to accomplish it.
Chacon won the inaugural Atlantic Beach Classic on the Epson Tour, birding two of her last three holes to finish one shot ahead of the field at 7-under. She never held a share of the lead until the last three holes.
The 2024 Atlantic Beach Charity Classic is her first victory on the Epson Tour, and Chacon is the first Epson Tour rookie to win this season.
"Words cannot really describe what I'm feeling," Chacon told the Epson Tour Communications team after the win. "I'm still shocked and just really surprised. But most of all, I'm super grateful and super thankful to be here."
The approach into No. 18 was the key shot of the tournament, leaving the 22-year-old 40 feet for eagle and making a 6-footer for birdie to win.
"I feel like I had a pretty solid round today. Nothing really major happened. I just feel like I hit the ball really well, and I was pretty consistent off the tee," said Chacon. "I wasn't super consistent the first two days, but today, my driver really worked out well for me. I did a pretty good job of hitting a lot of greens, and I think for me, it just all came down to the putting and making clutch shots up towards the end."
Chacon enjoyed a stellar career at Oregon from 2019-2023, where her scoring average of 72.82 ranks first all-time in program history, and was the first University of Oregon Duck to win a NCAA Regional Individual Title at the 2022 NCAA Albuquerque Regional. She is one of three players in program history to earn multiple WGCA All-America honors and competed twice in the prestigious Augusta National Women’s Amateur
At the 2023 U.S. Amateur, Chacon set the stroke play scoring record, carding rounds of 66-65 to beat the previous record by two shots.
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In high school, Chacon's final AJGA ranking was No. 16 and No. 12 on Golfweek. Due to that ranking, she was able to play on the Ping Junior Solheim Cup team that beat Europe in 2019 at Gleneagles in Scotland, where she went 3-0 in her matches. At the ACDS Junior Championship, Chacon shot a final round 65 to win the event with rounds of 72-71-65. In nine AJGA events over the span of two years, Chacon posted four top-10 finishes.
Amateur wins
2023 U.S. Women's Amateur Medalist
2022 NCAA Women's Southwest Regional