MONTGOMERY: Chen’s progress continues in summer

Montgomery golfer repeats at Junior Open

By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
   Alice Chen just keeps chugging along, making a better and better case each time she takes the course that she is one of the top female junior golfers to ever play in New Jersey.
   Last week, the Montgomery resident won her second straight New Jersey State Golf Association Junior Open, shooting a 2-under par 146 to win by 10 strokes at Rumson Country Club. The 10-shot margin of victory was equal to her margin of victory a year ago.
   ”It felt really good,” said Chen, who has been busy playing tournaments across the country this summer. “It is good when you are playing the same event annually and can use it as a benchmark of progression and how far you have developed. It is neat to look back and see how much you have improved.
   ”Because of the different competition, the result is not always what you can use to determine how much better you have gotten. Just comparing this year and last year, I was looking at the second round and making sure I stayed patient and that growth in the mental game makes me excited to see how far it has come.”
   Last year at Jumping Brook, Chen followed a 1-under opening round with a 4-over second round to finish 3-over.
   ”My driver has picked up some distance,” Chen said of her physical improvement. “And a lot of it is mental maturity and sticking with my plan to the end. I am learning how to become more resilient. I think poor rounds are always really humbling. I faced a lot of that last summer. Every bump along the way shapes you to become better.”
   Chen has been playing in a number of qualifying events this summer. She was in Ohio shortly after the State Open, and on Monday she began play in the Women’s Western Golf Association National Junior Championship in Iowa.
   ”After Iowa, I will be in Indiana for the U.S. Girls Junior,” Chen said. “That will probably be the biggest tournament of the summer. The U.S. Girls Junior is run by the USGA and any USGA event you play in will be the most prestigious. It is really well run and you have to qualify so that is a really big honor.”
   Chen also has the NJSGA Women’s Amateur at Brooklake later this month and the Big “I” National Championship at Pinehurst in early August. And through it all, she’ll always be practicing to improve both her mental and physical approach to the sport.