Owen Kinnunen was once considered a late bloomer, a talented golfer whose best junior golf came after many college coaches had made their recruiting decisions. Now he is a Greenville County Amateur champion and headed to NC State.

By Stan Olenik. Editor-Publisher. The GolfClub

It wasn’t supposed to be a going-away party.

It was the Greenville County Amateur, but the way Owen Kinnunen played — and what comes next for the young golfer — turned the championship into one of those career turning points he may look back on years from now.

Kinnunen opened the championship at Furman University Golf Course with a 9-under-par 63, making nine birdies without a bogey.

The round tied Brent Delahoussaye for the lowest score in tournament history and gave Kinnunen the lead in the championship, being played at Furman for the first time since 2014.

It was an impressive start, but it didn’t give him much breathing room.

Jed Dirksen, who has been around the lead in previous Greenville County championships, shot a 7-under 65 that included an eagle and enough birdies to leave him just two shots behind.

While many of the players were grinding around the demanding course, Kinnunen was having fun.

“Some of my friends and I come here and play for fun,” Kinnunen said. “It is a fun course to play, and I had a lot of fun in the first round.”

His second round increased his advantage and sent him into the final round with a four-shot lead.

Dirksen was the last player with a realistic chance to catch the former South Carolina Class 4A high school champion.

Kinnunen hit a couple of loose shots on the front nine, and Dirksen took advantage. A birdie at the ninth cut the lead to two.

Kinnunen got the message.

“I just told myself, coming down the stretch, when I made the turn, ‘Nah, I gotta pull off a little bit here.’”

He did.

Kinnunen steadied his game, and what had briefly become a two-shot race turned back in his favor. By the end of the round, he was the new Greenville County Amateur champion.

A few days after lifting the trophy at Furman, Kinnunen was scheduled to leave home for NC State.

Getting there wasn’t a straight line.

Kinnunen helped Blue Ridge High School contend for a state championship and won an individual state title himself. The problem wasn’t his ability. It was when that ability became obvious.

By the time Kinnunen made a headline with an impressive win in the Carolinas Junior championship, much of the college recruiting process had already passed him by.

College golf recruiting starts early. Coaches follow rankings, watch major junior tournaments and track players for years before scholarship decisions are made.

One outstanding season late in a junior career can attract attention, but it can also leave coaches wondering whether they are seeing a player who has reached another level or simply one who got hot at the right time.

Kinnunen became labeled a “late bloomer.”

There were no Power Four offers waiting for him, even while players he had beaten were receiving them.

Southern Wesleyan University offered him an opportunity to continue playing, and Kinnunen took it.

He could have arrived carrying a pretty substantial chip on his shoulder.

He didn’t.

“It was kind of just more acceptance of my situation, because I knew if I was upset about the situation, it wouldn’t help anything.

“So I was just going to be where my feet are.”

Kinnunen went to work, taking advantage of his opportunity at Southern Wesleyan and getting help from someone who recognized his talent.

Chip Ridley works with many of the top junior golfers in the Upstate as a performance coach. Kinnunen had somehow escaped his radar.

It didn’t take long to change that.

“I saw him hit three tee shots and asked him why I didn’t know anything about him,” Ridley said.

Ridley began working with Kinnunen and saw a player whose ability appeared capable of taking him beyond the level where he had begun his college career.

Kinnunen still had to prove it.

He did that at Southern Wesleyan.

By the end of his first season, Kinnunen had earned Conference Carolinas All-Conference honors and recorded several top-10 finishes.

At Greenwood Country Club, he finished regulation play tied at the top of the leaderboard. His play helped confirm something he already suspected.

“I just realized, I can play with these guys,” he said. “I’m ready to move to the next level if the opportunity presented itself.”

Eventually, Kinnunen ventured into the transfer portal and got the opportunity he had been looking for.

NC State called.

“I’m really looking forward to being around a bunch of good golfers to help me get better,” he said. “Most importantly, I want to play.”

So maybe the Greenville County Amateur did turn into a going-away party after all.

Going away from being a late bloomer and becoming a golfer who is blossoming.

“I’m sad to go,” he said, “but it’s gonna be a new chapter, and I’m really happy to arrive.”

Woodard wins Greenville County Senior Am

The Greenville County Amateur includes a tournament within the tournament,

A field of over 40 seniors played for the county Senior championship at the same time the Amateur was being played.

Senior players used a differet set of tees and after the first round Jack Brown turned in a scorecard with a 69 on it to take a one shot lead over Jason Woodard and former County, Senior Am and State Am champion Yancey Johnson,

In the second round Brown fell off the pace, but finished the tournament as the top Super-Senior.

Woodard held a one-shot lead over the former champion, but in the final round Johnson had trouble fnishing off his round while Woodard went on to win the Senior Division title with a 54 hole total of 211.

One of the other special competitions within the tournament was the battle for the Allison Cup. The award goes to the club with the lowest scores through the first two rounds.

The team of golfers from Green Valley won the Cup at this year’s tournament.

Scores from the Greenville County Amateur Championship https://greenvillecga.bluegolf.com/bluegolfw/greenvillecga26/event/greenvillecga264/contest/25/leaderboard.htm

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