There’s a lot of pressure on a golf course ““ the slightest shake can send a tee-shot hopelessly away from its target, and an invisible break can slide even the shortest putt awry.
And yet that pressure never seems to faze Kevin Chappell.
Perhaps the best UCLA golfer of the past decade, Chappell enters the postseason as the No. 3-ranked player in the country.
The senior star will be a favorite at the NCAA Championships at the end of May, and he is the unquestioned leader of a Bruin team that will contend for what would be its first national title in 20 years.
After that, Chappell plans to turn pro and battle to earn a living in the ultra-competitive world of professional golf.
And he’s sure that none of it will rattle him, not one daunting drive or slippery, 6-foot putt.
“I step on the first tee, every time I’m playing, and I look at the guy in the face across from me, and I know that he has not been through more than I have,” Chappell said. “He’s not tougher than me.”
The past year of Chappell’s life has proven that.
At the start of the Bruins’ fall season Chappell’s older brother ““ Steven Casey Chappell ““ died of heart failure. He passed away on Oct. 3 at the age of 24.
Casey was the reason Kevin Chappell started the game at age 5. The boys grew up in Fresno, just a block away from a golf course.
In high school, Kevin Chappell spent his afternoons at the course’s driving range. Casey stuck with baseball. He was a good golfer and he played a lot with Kevin Chappell, but never competitively.
“It’s been a crazy year,” Kevin Chappell said. “My family, dealing with all that we’ve dealt with, it’s been emotional to say the least.
“I think that’s what makes me so tough. That gives me the attitude that I have on the golf course.”
Kevin Chappell returned for the team’s first event of the season, two weeks after Casey’s death.
The Bruin team won that tournament, which took place at Chambers Bay Golf Club in University Place, Wash. After two brilliant opening rounds, Kevin Chappell struggled in the final round and finished in second place individually.
UCLA coach Derek Freeman noticed something more important that week.
“It put everything in perspective for him,” Freeman said. “As serious as we take this game, and as badly as we want to win, it’s not a matter of life and death.
“Kevin handled it incredibly well. He did everything he needed to do. For me it’s just amazing how some people can handle that type of adversity that falls into our lives.”
Quiet beginning
Chappell was no prodigy. He didn’t receive much interest from colleges until his junior year at Buchanan High School. Even at that point, Chappell had to send a resume to UCLA just to get in touch with the school.
As a junior golfer, Chappell had played in just one tournament outside of his home state.
“No one had really heard of me,” Chappell said. “Guys at UCLA were like, “˜Who are you?’ I came in with Daniel Im, who was a top-two recruit in the country. He had no clue who I was.”
College life was an adjustment for Chappell. He had followed a simple routine of going to the driving range every day during high school.
Things run a little differently at UCLA, where there is no on-campus range facility. Players have to wake up four mornings a week at 6:45 a.m. to practice at local courses. And the golf teams travel more than any other teams at UCLA.
“The way we practice, you just have to figure it out,” Chappell said. “You just have to get out there and get the ball rolling.”
Chappell did just that, and performed solidly in his first year with the team. He tied for second at the NCAA West Regional and earned a spot on the Pac-10 Honorable Mention team.
But Chappell’s biggest improvement came in his sophomore year at UCLA. That’s when, Chappell said, he started to master the mental side of the game, to find a maturity on the course few college players possess.
Freeman often emphasizes Chappell’s ability to scramble ““ to score well even when he’s not striking the ball perfectly or putting as precisely as he can. Sometimes that comes down to clutch shots and resiliency; sometimes it’s just luck.
Either way, it’s an edge that separates Chappell from the bulk of college golfers.
“Skillwise, who knows where I am?” Chappell said. “But I like to think that the attitude I carry on the golf course and the way I kind of think my way around it helps me out.”
Slowly that mental prowess developed into a loud confidence.
A crazy year
Chappell’s senior season at UCLA began on a tragic note. With all of the turmoil Chappell faced off the course, he started to value the serenity and calmness he found on it.
“Golf is an escape,” Chappell said. “It’s the only place where I don’t think, where my mind doesn’t wander. I focus on the task at hand. That’s been my healing process ““ playing golf.
“Even my family, they enjoy watching me play golf; that’s been very therapeutic. It’s been healing for all of us.”
Chappell began to play the best golf of his life.
He set a UCLA record in January with a masterful performance at the Arizona Intercollegiate, posting a 54-hole score of 15-under par. That score gave him his first individual title of the season.
He consistently led UCLA in scoring throughout the regular season and punctuated the spring with a stellar, runner-up finish April 19 at the U.S. Intercollegiate.
That spring stretch led to an honor Chappell never expected.
One day at practice, Freeman asked Chappell where he thought he stood among the best golfers in the Pac-10. The conference boasts three of the top 10 teams in the nation: No. 3 USC, No. 4 UCLA and No. 7 Stanford. Chappell guessed he’d rank behind Trojan stars Jamie Lovemark and Rory Hie.
He was wrong.
The Pac-10 coaches named Chappell as the conference’s Player of the Year on May 1.
Chappell became the first Bruin to win the award in 23 years.
Only four other UCLA golfers have won the award: Corey Pavin, Tom Pernice Jr., Steve Pate and Duffy Waldorf ““ and all went on to successful PGA Tour careers.
Chappell is now moving into that same territory.
“Being the player of the year, you get a reputation, you have an aura around you, people know who you are,” Chappell said. “I definitely have a personality on the golf course; I’d say “˜fiery’ is the word.”
Soon there may be a lot more people in the golf world who know that persona.
Bright future
The Bruins’ tournament run begins Thursday at the NCAA Regionals at the Gold Mountain Golf Club in Bremerton, Wash. UCLA is the No. 2 seed and will almost certainly be one of the 10 teams to advance from there to the NCAA Championships on May 28 at the Kampen Course in West Lafayette, Ind.
The team championship is more important to Chappell, and UCLA has a good chance at that crown. The Bruins struggled at the Pac-10 Tournament, where the scoring system counts five scores. The NCAA rules only count four scores, which could substantially benefit the Bruin team.
For the past two weeks Chappell has worked ferociously to prepare for this crucial May stretch, to build a sense of confidence in every aspect of his game.
“My whole thing is that I never want to have any regrets, and look back and say, “˜What if I just worked a little harder?'” he said. “I really want to emphasize that I have no regrets about the way I prepared going into NCAAs.”
The NCAA Tournament could also affect Chappell’s prospects on the PGA Tour. At each PGA tournament, the sponsor gives several players exemptions ““ even if they don’t have a Tour card.
Typically, those exemptions go to NCAA champions or to top college players. Even though Chappell has not yet played in a professional event, that will change this summer. The money he earns playing in those events will help him work toward securing a PGA Tour card at the Qualifying School in November.
He will also compete in Scotland with the U.S. Palmer Cup team in June. The team features eight of the top U.S. collegiate golfers, who compete against eight European players.
Chappell will turn pro right after the Palmer Cup. He said he feels ready for the jump.
“Turning pro, it’s not like it’s a different game or different rules,” Chappell said. “It’s still a game; it’s a game that I’ve played since I was 5 years old, and it’s something I enjoy ““ as long as I can take that attitude, then I’ll be alright.”
Freeman isn’t worried either.
“He’s got the mental makeup and he’s got the physical makeup,” Freeman said. “He’s got all the tools required to be successful at the next level. He needs to have a little luck and things go his way; when that happens he’s going to have a wonderful and successful professional career.”
Chappell, who admits to being a bit of a loner, said he’s looking forward to the nomadic life of a Tour player. He said he’ll turn to friends Nick Watney and Jason Gore ““ both Tour veterans and former Bruins ““ for advice.
He’ll also have his brother there with him.
Kevin Chappell scribbles three letters, “SCC,” on every golf ball he hits. All golfers mark their balls with some sort of dot or line. It’s normally just a way to easily identify a ball.
For Kevin Chappell, it means a lot more to have those letters ““ Casey’s initials ““ with him on the course.
“I’m trying to honor my brother,” Chappell said. “I want to have him with me out there. Every time I look down, every time I mark my ball on the green, he’s looking at me.”
Maybe it’s that face that always keeps Chappell so calm.