By Austin Badzik (@austinbadzik15):
Long time friends from high school with an unexpected journey to San Jose State, have come along way to now lead the men’s golf team. All eyes are on the dynamic duo this season as they both have lots to prove.
Kevin Velo and Scott Munger both grew up in Danville, Calif and played one year of golf together in high school.
From missing the cut his freshman year of high school, to leading the Spartan’s in stroke average the past two season’s, Kevin Velo has come quite a ways in his golf career.
Early on in Velo’s career anger issues on the course were an issue for him, and coach John Kennaday was not a fan of it.
“JK told me before my first tournament if you throw any clubs or swear you are off the team,” Velo said. “Ever since then I have really improved, it brought me to the next level.”
Velo’s game has taken off ever since. In his freshman year Velo averaged a team best 73.63 stroke average. It’s not so much the physical adjustments that have helped Velo so much in his young golf career but the mental side of the game.
“I am more into trusting everything,” Velo said, “And letting everything happen by itself. That’s another big improvement, just doing your work and the results coming to you.”
Unlike Velo, Munger realized much sooner that golf was going to be something in his future.
Munger loved baseball, but realized he didn’t have the size for baseball and pursued golf.
Just like Velo, Munger has put up massive numbers here at SJSU as well. Munger finished second on the team in stroke average in each of the last two season’s right behind Velo.
“He’s become a far more consistent, dependable player over the years,”. Kennaday said. “ That is an overall level of knowledge and awareness.”
Munger has improved his game in a plethora of ways, the main one being playing more conservative.
“I used to be quite a risk-taker, I still am,”. Munger said. “I definitely learned to play more from the middle of the greens and play smarter.”
Both of these players have evolved quite a bit in their time playing together. The biggest advantage this dynamic duo now has is experience.
“Another big thing is how to manage emotions, ”Munger said. “I’ve been here for five years, anything you can experience on the golf course I have had, so anything my teammates are going through I can relate.”
The talent between Velo and Munger was on full display in the GolfWeek Conference Challenge.
Velo shot four under par 68 in round three, to give him his first career top-5 finish ever. His best finish prior was a tie for ninth last season in the Brandon Dunes Championship.
Velo did it again the following weekend at the Alister Mackenzie Invitational shooting 14 under par breaking 200. The junior has reached uncharted waters breaking 200, the only time we have seen this number touched was from Cody Blick back in 2014 at the Price’s Give ‘Em Five Invitational.
The captain of the team, Munger, didn’t do as well as he would have liked, finishing 44th after shooting 10 over par.
This was a very exciting tournament for the two, as the team has high ceiling for this season.
“As a team we can definitely do better, we struggled,” Velo said. “ I know we beat half the field, we are a very good team this year, we are going to be deadly. It’s going to be a lot of fun we are going to surprise a lot of people.”
Kevin Velo and Scott Munger have gone from playing side by side in high school to continuing as a power duo at the collegiate level. The season is young, and these two best friends are hungry and looking to bring back some victories.