Kevin Alan Chappell (born July 8, 1986) is an American

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

who is currently playing on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

Amateur career

Chappell was born in

Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, makin ...

. He attended the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

where he won the

Jack Nicklaus Jack William Nicklaus (born January 21, 1940), nicknamed The Golden Bear, is a retired American professional golfer and List of golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, golf course designer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest go ...

Award as the collegiate player of the year in 2008. He also won the

Arnold Palmer Arnold Daniel Palmer (September 10, 1929 – September 25, 2016) was an American professional golfer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most charismatic players in the sport's history. Dating back to 1955, he won numerous ev ...

Award for claiming the

NCAA championship The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

. He was a

PING Ping may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Ping, a domesticated Chinese duck in the illustrated book '' The Story about Ping'', first published in 1933 * Ping, a minor character in ''Seinfeld'', an NBC sitcom * Ping, a c ...

first-team All-American and

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

golfer of the year in 2008 after winning three collegiate titles and held the UCLA single season scoring record. He was a three-time PING All-American selection. He was ranked the third best amateur in world golf at the end of the 2008 season. Chappell represented the United States as a member of the championship team at the 2004 Junior World Team Championship and the 2007 Fuji Xerox USA vs. Japan Collegiate Golf Championship. He was also a member of the 2008 U.S

Palmer Cup The Arnold Palmer Cup is an annual team golf competition for college/university golfers. From 2018 it has been contested between a United States team and an International team representing the rest of the world. The teams consist of 12 men and 12 ...

team.

Professional career

Chappell turned professional the day after the 2008

and began playing mainly on the

Nationwide Tour The Korn Ferry Tour is the developmental golf tour, tour for the U.S.-based PGA Tour, and features professional golfers who have either not yet reached the PGA Tour, or who have done so but then failed to win enough FedEx Cup points to stay at tha ...

. A stand out result early in his career on the

was at the 2009

AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, held annually at Pebble Beach, California, near Carmel. The tournament is usually held during the month of February on three different courses, currently Pebble Beac ...

where he finished tied for sixth. Chappell won his first professional event at the 2010

Fresh Express Classic at TPC Stonebrae The Ellie Mae Classic was a golf tournament on the Korn Ferry Tour. It was first played in 2009 at TPC Stonebrae (previously known as Stonebrae Country Club), in Hayward, California. The inaugural event had a prize fund of $600,000 with $108,000 ...

on the Nationwide Tour, winning by one stroke over David Hearn after a final round of 65. He finished the year 9th on the money list and earned his 2011 PGA Tour card. In his

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

season on tour, Chappell finished tied for second behind Brendan Steele at the 2011

Valero Texas Open The Texas Open, known as the Valero Texas Open for sponsorship reasons, is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, played near San Antonio, Texas. It dates back years to 1922, when it was first called the Texas Open; San Antonio-based Val ...

, after a bogey on the 17th hole put him one stroke behind. This was Chappell's best ever career finish on the PGA Tour to date. In 2011, he also qualified for the U.S. Open, his first ever major championship appearance and he shot a 66 on Sunday to finish in a tie for third place and ensure himself of entry into the 2012 U.S. Open and

Masters Tournament The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply The Masters, or the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week of April, the Masters is the first maj ...

. He also finished in a tied for the third place in his final event of the season, the

Children's Miracle Network Hospitals Classic The Walt Disney World Golf Classic was an annual golf tournament on the PGA Tour. The tournament was played on the Palm and Magnolia courses at the Walt Disney World Resort. It was played under several names, reflecting sponsorship changes. The ...

. He ended the year 84th in the FedEx Cup standings. Chappell finished tied for tenth at his second consecutive U.S. Open in 2012; it was his only top-10 finish of 2012 and he finished the season 125th on the money list, earning the last available Tour card based on season earnings. Chappell had his best year on the PGA Tour to date in 2013, making 16 cuts, with three top 10s, which included a second runner-up finish of his career at the

Memorial Tournament The Memorial Tournament is a PGA Tour golf tournament founded in 1976 by Jack Nicklaus. It is played on a Nicklaus-designed course at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, a suburb north of Columbus. The golf course passes through a large n ...

. He ended the year 45th on the FedEx Cup standings. During the 2014 and 2015, Chappell was consistent, making the majority of cuts he played in, but only recorded three top-10 finishes in this period. The 2016 season was an inconsistent but impressive season for Chappell with a number of missed cuts and lower place finishes. However, he has finished runner-up three times at the

RSM Classic The RSM Classic is a golf tournament on the PGA Tour, played in the autumn in Georgia. It debuted in October 2010 on St. Simons Island, Georgia at the Sea Island Golf Club. The tournament was known as the McGladrey Classic until 2015, when the ti ...

behind

Kevin Kisner Kevin James Kisner (born February 15, 1984) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. Early life Kisner was born in Aiken, South Carolina and attended South Aiken High School. He played college golf at the University of Geor ...

, at the

Arnold Palmer Invitational The Arnold Palmer Invitational is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour. It is played each March at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge, a private golf resort owned since 1974 by Arnold Palmer in Bay Hill, a suburb southwest of Orlando, Florida ...

, a single shot behind

Jason Day Jason Day (born 12 November 1987) is an Australian professional golfer, PGA Tour member and winner of the 2015 PGA Championship. He is a former world number one in the World Golf Ranking, having first achieved the ranking in September 2015. ...

, and at

The Players Championship The Players Championship (commonly known as simply The Players, stylized by the PGA Tour as The PLAYERS Championship) is an annual golf tournament on the PGA Tour. Originally known as the Tournament Players Championship, it began in 1974. The P ...

, again behind Jason Day. He lost in a three-man playoff with

Rory McIlroy Rory Daniel McIlroy (born 4 May 1989) is a professional golfer from Northern Ireland who is a member of both the European and PGA Tours. He is the current world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking, and has spent over 100 weeks in tha ...

and Ryan Moore at the

Tour Championship The Tour Championship (stylized as the TOUR Championship) is a golf tournament that is part of the PGA Tour. It has historically been one of the final events of the PGA Tour season; prior to 2007, its field consisted exclusively of the top 30 ...

to McIlroy. After 180 PGA Tour starts and six runner-up finishes, Chappell earned his first win at the 2017

. Chappell birdied the 72nd hole for a one-stroke win over

Brooks Koepka Brooks Koepka (, born May 3, 1990) is an American professional golfer who plays on the LIV Golf tour. In October 2018, he became world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking for 47 weeks after winning the 2018 CJ Cup. He won the U.S. Ope ...

. The win also moved Chappell to a career high 23rd in the

Official World Golf Ranking The Official World Golf Ranking is a system for rating the performance level of professional golfers. It was started in 1986. The rankings are based on a player's position in individual tournaments (i.e. not pairs or team events) over a "rolli ...

. Chappell also earned the tenth and final automatic position for the

2017 Presidents Cup Seventeen or 17 may refer to: *17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine * ''Seventeen'' (Japanese ...

. In November 2018, Chappell announced that he had been playing through injury for most of the 2018 season, and now needed

microdiscectomy A discectomy (also called open discectomy, if done through a 1/2 inch or larger skin opening) is the surgical removal of abnormal disc material that presses on a nerve root or the spinal cord. The procedure involves removing a portion of an in ...

surgery. After finishing top-30 in FedEx Cup points in both

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

and

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, Chappell only managed to finish 83rd in 2018. Chappell was given 23 starts to fulfill a medical exemption for the next season. Chappell made his return to the PGA Tour in September 2019 at the Military Tribute at The Greenbrier. In the second round, he tied the tour record with nine consecutive birdies and shot the 10th round of 59 (–11), and the 11th under 60, in PGA Tour history.

Scorecard

''September 13, 2019''

Professional wins (2)

PGA Tour wins (1)

PGA Tour playoff record (0–1)

Web.com Tour wins (1)

Results in major championships

''Results not in chronological order in 2020.'' CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
NT = No tournament due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 4 (2011 U.S. Open – 2013 U.S. Open) *Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (four times)

Results in The Players Championship

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur *Junior World Team Championship: 2004 *USA vs. Japan Collegiate Golf Championship: 2007 *

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Professional *

Presidents Cup The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world minus Europe. Europe competes against the United States in a similar but considerably ...

(winners)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chappell, Kevin American male golfers UCLA Bruins men's golfers PGA Tour golfers Korn Ferry Tour graduates Golfers from California Sportspeople from Fresno, California 1986 births Living people