Perhaps there’s something to be said for a golfer being too young to have ingrained any bad habits.
But whatever the case, the CWGA Junior Match Play Championship, which dates back to 1953, crowned one of its youngest champions ever on Friday.
Amy Chitkoksoong, a 14-year-old from Aurora, gained that distinction this week at Thorncreek Golf Club in Thornton by ralling to post a 19-hole victory over Jaclyn Murray of Grand Junction in the championship-flight final.
CWGA records regarding the age of champions are incomplete, but Chitkoksoong is certainly the youngest Junior Match Play champ in the last decade. And that distinction may go back much further than that. But Sally Hardwick turned 14 the same year she won the inaugural Junior Match Play, in 1953. Harwick went on to win two more Junior Match Play titles, along with many other championships, and was eventually inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame.
Suffice it to say that joining such rarefied company on Friday was special for Chitkoksoong (left and above), who will be a freshman at Grandview High School starting this fall.
“It feels great,” she said. “It would feel great winning it even if I’m 22, but winning at 14 is giving me a lot of confidence for the next years coming up because every time I (compete in the future) I can say I have a chance at the lead.”
On Friday, Chitkoksoong never led until sinking the winning 4-foot par putt on the 19th hole. Both she and Murray just missed the green on the par-4, but Murray couldn’t convert her 8-footer for par. Then the left-handed Chitkoksoong found the cup with her 4-footer.
“I was pretty nervous,” she said. “Jaclyn is a great player. Being able to go to 19 with her was just amazing. The 4-foot putt, even though I was nervous, I just told myself it was like any other putt and it happened to drop.”
And that was by no means the only significant putt Chikoksoong drained on Friday. On No. 10, she holed a 20-footer from the back fringe for par. On No. 11, she found the cup on a 25-footer for birdie. On No. 15, she converted a 7-footer for par. Then, after three-putting on No. 17 (bottom photo), leaving Murray 1 up, Chitkoksoong came up with the biggest of them all.
Facing a 22-foot downhill, big-breaking putt — and with Murray having a 15-foot birdie attempt upcoming — the diminutive Chitkoksoong coaxed her ball into the hole and gave it a fist-pump (top photo). And when Murray (left), a 2014 U.S. Girls’ Junior qualifier, then missed her try, it was on to extra holes.
Asked what she thought when she saw Chitkoksoong’s long putt go in at 18, Murray said, “Just amazement. She’s so young, she’s so good. She just made amazing putts. She deserves it.”
Chitkoksoong obviously can make some noise with her flatstick, which makes her a dangerous opponent.
“Everything just clicked today, and I’m really happy about that,” said Chitkoksoon, last year’s 11-13 Girls Junior Series Champion. “On the (18th) hole I was just trying to get it on and give myself a chance to make the putt. Jaclyn and I were just missing our putts by a little. It just so happened that mine dropped on 18 for the birdie.”
Murray, who attends Regis Jesuit High School though she resides in Grand Junction during the summer, led after 15 of the 18 holes of regulation, with the other three being all-square. Murray was 2 up on three occasions on the front nine.
“I played pretty solid,” the 16-year-old said. “I was up, then she took me back down.”
Chitkoksoong, who plays out of Murphy Creek Golf Course, felt similarly.
“On 11, I was able to get even,” she said. “But the hole right after that, Jaclyn just came up and took it again. It’s so hard to pass her up. She’s a great player. I was just trying to keep shot for shot with her.
“This is really big for me because I’ve never won a match play event before. Coming close a couple of times and winning it today was emotional.”
Murray actually had the better stroke-play total on Friday, by one shot. But like it or not, that’s what makes match play special.
Chitkoksoong certainly made the format work for her. In her three matches, she beat Delaney Elliott in 19 holes, 2015 U.S. Women’s Amateur qualifier Erin Sargent 1 up, and Murray in 19 holes.
To view the match play trees for the various flights, CLICK HERE.
