Kwon Fires 3-under-67 To Become Medalist At Amateur Qualifier At Burlington C.C.
Vince Kwon, a 22-year-old self-taught golfer from Little Mill, fired a 3-under-par 67 to earn medalist honors in the first qualifying event for the NJSGA 115th Amateur Championship on Tuesday, May 17, at Burlington Country Club in Mount Holly.
The Amateur Championship takes place June7-9 at Montammy Golf Club in Alpine.
Kwon’s round included an eagle, four birdies and three bogeys over the 6,430-yard layout as 10 golfers shot 74 or better to qualify for the Amateur.
Reid Bedell, a senior at Rumson-Fair Haven High School, was runner-up with a 69, a day after leading his Rumson team to a high school sectional championship as low golfer of the event.
Veteran Matt Finger of Darlington, runner-up in the 2015 NJSGA Mid-Amateur, shot even-par 70 to gain entry. Dawson Jones of Jumping Brook, a freshman at the University of Rhode Island, was fourth with a 71. Jones won the Met Junior championship in 2014. Kwon’s playing partner, Karl Nutt of Laurel Creek, also qualified with a 72.
Ryan MacDonald of Colts Neck, a 36-year-old former Rutgers University golfer who resides in Manasquan, carded the eighth ace of his career on the par-3 140-yard 10thhole, using a nine iron. The ace helped him become one of the 10 qualifiers as he finished with a 73. According to playing partner Chris Jackson of Little Mill, MacDonald’s ace went into the hole on the fly.
Kwon has never played in the State Amateur, although he made the cut at the NJSGA Open in 2014. He also reached stroke-play in the Philadelphia Amateur in 2015. As a plus-2 handicapper, Kwon has played in four U.S. Open qualifiers, including last week’s at Hollywood, but never got past the local qualifying stage.
Kwon’s only other claim to golfing fame came during his senior year of high school at Cherry Hill East in 2012 when he won the Camden County scholastic championship.
“I’m trying to improve each year to see how I do. I started playing at age six with my father, Sung, who was a scratch golfer in South Korea,” said Kwon who works in his father’s tile business.
“If I get good enough, I might go to Florida in a year to see how I could do on the mini-tours.”
Little mill’s Jackson often plays with Kwon and said Kwon spends hours on the range.
“He’s passionate about the game. He taught himself a power fade. He’s a humble, great young man,” Jackson said.
Kwon said he developed his desire for the sport when he won a U.S. Kids event as a seven-year-old.
Coming into Tuesday, Kwon had only seen Burlington once, in a practice round last week.
“It’s a shorter course and I had a feeling something good was going to happen,” said Kwon, who lives in Marlton.
The eagle came on the 475-yard, par-5 13thhole, his fourth hole of the day, when his perfect drive left him 205 from the hole. He stroked a 5-iron which landed five feet from flagstick.
“My driver was very good today and my irons were decent,” Kwon said. “And my short game was really good. My putter was pretty good, My longest putt was a 15-footer for a birdie on the sixth hole,” he noted.
