Youth will be served

Writing from Golf, Illinois

Monday, March 31, 2025

The beauty of youth is not only the innocence of the age. It’s also the scope of the overwhelming possibilities for those who have not yet seen the reality of life. Things like a missed tap-in, a broken promise by a pal, or a Cubs losing streak.

Four such youngsters, dressed in matching shirts and sporting fancy new golf bags, assembled at the Illinois PGA headquarters in this little throwback town on Monday afternoon to celebrate and preview their coming appearance in Sunday morning’s Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals at Augusta National Golf Club.

Brielle Downer, Hudson Hodge, Chloe Lee and Jack Kemper, Chicago's Fab Four, pose on Monday at Illinois PGA headquarters in Golf. (Illinois Golfer/Tim Cronin)

All four annexed their invitation to the championship round by winning their regional final bracket at TPC Deere Run last fall. All four have the chance to become a winner at Augusta – if they score more points than the other nine in their age group by hitting two drives longer, two chips closer, and two putts better.

Easy, it is not. Possible, it most certainly is. The parents, of course, are perhaps more giddy than the kids, as they’re along for the ride. But the four contenders from the Chicago area are thrilled with the opportunity. Here they are:

• Brielle Downer, girls 7-9 bracket, Lockport, most looks forward to seeing her friends and having fun. One of those friends, Eloise Fetzer, previously qualified out of the Chicago area, and this year qualified elsewhere, her family having moved to South Carolina.

“I having talked to her in a while but I’m excited to see her,” Downer said.

A student of Mistwood teacher Nicole Jeray, Downer says the key to her game is simple: “Practicing a lot and practicing every day.”

Thanks to watching previous DCP competitions, Downer and the others know just what to prepare for. She said she’s getting to within a couple of feet on the two putts routinely used at Augusta, the first an approximate 30-footer on the back of the 18th green, and the second about 20-feet downhill to the traditional Sunday pin placement, much like the winning putt Mark O’Meara sank in 1998, his big year.

• Hudson Hodge, boys 10-11 bracket, Clarendon Hills, says “the experience is going to be very cool. Just soak everything in, and do pretty well in the competition. I’m very excited for (going down) Magnolia Lane, and to see Amen Corner. It should be really fun with everyone there.”

Hodge chipped brilliantly at Deere Run to advance to the finals, and hopes to do so again.

“My best skills in past years has been the short game,” said Hodge, whom the wizened would consider too young to have a past. “But I’ll still have to work on that before then.

“When I won at Deere Run, I almost couldn’t believe it.”

• Chloe Lee, girls 12-13 bracket, Plainfield, has Jeray as her teacher as well, and goes into the Sunday finals with 10 healthy fingers. She advanced from Deere Run despite a broken middle finger on her left hand. Swinging a club in the Illinois PGA simulator, it was easy to see the power she can unleash from coiling at the top of the swing. She knows there’s more to golf than a big swat.

“I’ve been working on my putting a lot more,” Lee said. “When I was (at Deere Run), I was hitting it too soft because I got too nervous.

“I’ve seen (putts at Augusta) curve a lot more, because it’s really fast down there.”

The older DCP competitors are, the more pressure affects them. Lee calls herself “pretty good” when it comes to pressure. “I can definitely hit a ball,” she said. “I don’t get too nervous. I think I’ll be able to play.”

• Jack Kemper, boys 12-13 bracket, Winnetka, is the great-great nephew of James Kemper, who founded Kemper Lakes Golf Club and co-founded KemperSports, one of the leading course operators in the world. But Augusta is another world entirely.

“I’m just happy I made it there,” Kemper said. “That was kind of the win for me. I’m hoping to have as much fun as I can when I get there. I did not expect to get a bag. It’s cool.”

The success at Deere Run was the talk of his school when it happened, and classmates will be tuning in Golf Channel on Sunday morning to see how he does.

“I have one friend that kind of plays golf and he’s really excited for me to go,” Kemper said.

Kemper, an old hand at watching Drive, Chip and Putt, has been working on his chipping, where many come up short.

“I’ve been trying to recreate the chip,” he said. “I went to spring break in Orlando, so I’ve watched the chip and tried to recreate it. Same for the putts. I’ve tried to recreate them.”

Kemper, a student of Kevin Weeks of Cog Hill, is old enough to not only have watched the Masters for several years, but to get what makes Augusta National different.

“It’ll be really cool driving down Magnolia Lane, but I don’t really know what to expect until I get there,” he said.

Just that it will be, for him and the other 79 contestants, the experience of a young lifetime.

– Tim Cronin