Kelly Chinn uses fast start to earn medalist honors at North & South Men's Amateur
Kelly Chinn (Chasing Fowl Photography/Pinehurst Photo)
In what ended up being a crowded leaderboard,
Kelly Chinn finished 6-under to hold off a host of chasers by one shot and win medalist honors at the North & South Men's Amateur at Pinehurst Resort.
Chinn shot a first-round 4-under 67 on No. 8 and a second-round 2-under 68 on No. 2 to get to 6-under and finish one shot ahead of Jackson Van Paris, Garrett Risner, and Brycen Jones. Jones, Risner, and Van Paris finished stroke play at 5-under and T2.
In the stroke play two rounds, Chinn recorded 11 birdies, three bogeys, and a double bogey. To start his second round on No. 2, he recorded birdies on Holes No. 2, 3, and 4 to jump out to a hot start.
Chinn finished T51 earlier in the month in the Elite Amateur Golf Series and is currently ranked No. 196 in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com World Rankings.
Van Paris put on another impressive showing in the stroke play portion after firing a course record 9-under 61 on No. 4 last year and earning medalist honors. Van Paris is currently ranked No. 16 in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com World Rankings.
Luke Colton finished in solo fifth place at 4-under, and Ben Warian, Reed Lotter, and Andi Xu finished T6 at 3-under. Warian won the 2024 Sunnehanna Amateur to kick off the Elite Amateur Golf Series.
Joshua Bai, Jack Turner, and Thomas Curry finished T9 at 2-under to round out the top ten.
26 golfers finished the stroke play portion at even par or better.
ABOUT THE North & South Amateur
The North & South Amateur Championship is the
longest consecutively run amateur tournament in
the
United States. Its past winners list includes names
like
Walter
Travis, Francis Ouimet, Billy Joe Patton, Jack
Nicklaus
and Curtis Strange. The field is made up of invited
players as well as open applications. Two rounds of
stroke
play are followed by five rounds of match play
(32
qualifiers) to determine the Champion. All stroke
& match play rounds are contested on
Pinehurst No. 2.
View Complete Tournament Information