CHASKA, Minn. – Cinderella has returned to the ball.
And to date, Paul Chang is without doubt one of the belles.
Chang was an unranked membership golfer when he almost superior to the quarterfinals of final summer time’s U.S. Novice at Cherry Hills, pushing eventual semifinalist J.M. Butler to further holes earlier than the clock struck midnight. Now, the 23-year-old College of Virginia senior has a season of varsity golf beneath his belt, sits 97th within the World Novice Golf Rating, and on Monday at Chaska City Course, he fired a 6-under 64 to seize a share lead in his second U.S. Novice.
“Final yr, I didn’t really feel like I belonged right here in any respect,” Chang mentioned. “I used to be testing the waters, didn’t know who’s who. … This yr positively feels completely different.”
Chang’s main first-round scorecard featured 4 2’s – three on par-3s and an eagle on the 318-yard, par-4 sixteenth gap, the place Chang drove the inexperienced after which rolled in a 40-footer. For Chang, it was a little bit of déjà vu. In opposition to Butler final yr, Chang holed out for an eagle on Cherry Hills’ sixteenth gap.
“It’s been an interesting story,” Virginia head coach Bowen Sargent mentioned throughout Chang’s breakout.
It’s solely gotten higher.
To catch you up: Chang was born in China, attended boarding faculty in England and didn’t get severe about golf till taking a niche yr after highschool. He utilized to a couple U.S. faculties earlier than enrolling in a computer-science program at Virginia. Previous to beginning courses, he emailed Sargent to ask about becoming a member of the Cavaliers’ group, solely to learn {that a} spot wouldn’t be that straightforward. For 2 years, Chang practiced at Virginia’s house course, usually using a rental scooter from his condo, and after he’d play a event, he’d e mail the outcome to Sargent. The persistence, nonetheless, didn’t repay till Chang certified for his first U.S. Novice final summer time; Sargent occurred to be recruiting a high-schooler in Chang’s group, and as soon as Chang certified, Sargent referred to as him into his workplace the following morning to supply him a walk-on spot.
Chang adopted his magical week at Cherry Hills by delivering arguably probably the most constant fall season of any Virginia participant, together with Walker Cupper Ben James. Chang notched two top-10s and didn’t end worse than T-16 in 4 begins. However that’s when Chang began, as he describes it, “experimenting with quite a lot of the unsuitable issues.”
He switched out of the JumboMax grips he had performed for 2 years.
He tried to treatment his hook tendency by ditching his draw and hitting a steep lower, solely to then develop a two-way miss.
He went by means of a number of putters.
The bottom level for Chang was taking pictures 81 within the second spherical and ultimately beating simply 4 gamers at Virginia’s house event final April. He wouldn’t journey for the remainder of the spring, not even because the sixth man for the postseason.
“That basically affected his confidence,” Sargent mentioned. “With Birdwood being his house course and that being the primary alternative he needed to play at house, he was anticipating a great likelihood to contend. I believe enjoying so poorly actually set him again. It’s good to see him bounce again and have a great summer time.”
Chang has had a busy previous couple months, enjoying 4 Elite Novice Sequence occasions previous to the U.S. Novice. He tied for ninth on the Northeast and completed simply outdoors the highest 25 on the Sunnehanna. Chang missed cuts in his most up-to-date begins, on the Southern and Western amateurs, however he has since ditched his newest experiment: arm-lock placing.
Again to a conventional blade with a pistol grip, Chang rolled in six whole birdies to go together with his eagle bomb on Monday. Now, he’s tasked with taking up the more durable of the 2 stroke-play hosts, Hazeltine Nationwide, on Tuesday.
Of the 22 scores of three beneath or higher in Spherical 1, simply three – 69s by Calum Scott, James Ashfield and Sohan Patel – had been recorded on Hazeltine. Chang’s 64 was equaled by Ole Miss junior Tom Fischer, who eagled his last gap, Chaska’s par-5 ninth. Among the many rivals at 4 beneath are mid-amateur Evan Beck, Arizona State’s Michael Mjaaseth, Louisville’s Cooper Claycomb and UNLV’s Caden Fioroni.
Fioroni is aware of loads about Chang; he misplaced to him within the Spherical of 64 final yr.
He’s definitely not alone.
