MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / August 30, 2000

LAPLACE – Junior Club Champion.

Phillip Kelly of LaPlace likes the sound of the title. And for the past twoyears, he has earned the right to be called it after winning the championship at Belle Terre Country Club.

Kelly defended his title last month with a 5-over 77, winning the championship by 11 strokes over Richard Lienhop. With the victory, Kellyalso closed out the victory in the Belle Terre Junior Golf points race, finishing with 63.

“I just like being called the Junior Club Champion,” Kelly, 14, said. “Ipractice every day and try hard. This is a pay off for the practice I’ve beendoing.”The victory capped off a summer that also saw Kelly capture the City Championships at Bayou Oaks Golf Course in New Orleans. Kelly shot a 6-over 150 that included rounds of 76 and 74.

“I got used to the course,” Kelly said. “We had been playing in a league(Compaq Classic/NOGA Tour) and at the end we had the championship. I gota feel of it. I knew what I was doing.”Kelly, of LaPlace, really started in the game five years ago. But he firstgot into golf when he was 3-years-old and his dad bought him a set of plastic clubs.

“I started with them practicing in the backyard,” Kelly said. “I startedswinging them and do it for hours.”Kelly’s dad taught him when he first got his first set of regular golf clubs.

After seeing how interested his son was in the game, he started sending him to instructors. And earlier this month, Kelly got instructions frompossibly the best source – Tiger Woods. Kelly was one of the select fewinvited to the Tiger Woods Junior Golf Clinic held at Bayou Oaks and got to talk to Woods himself.

“He was pretty much a normal guy,” Kelly said. “He talked about anything.He took us into a tent and talked to us about any questions we had for him.

I talked to him about my swing and what I had trouble with and he fixed it up pretty quick. This was something I had been wanting to do for a longtime. It gave my game a jump. I realized what I had to do to get better.”Kelly had been working hard to get better even before meeting Woods. Heregularly goes to the range and hits two to four buckets of balls before playing nine or 18 holes. His strong point, he said, is his chipping.”Most of the time, if I don’t hit the green, I can still get par because I can chip it pretty close,” Kelly said.

The part of his game he said he still needs work on is his putting.

“I’m learning a new putting stroke,” Kelly said. “I’m getting bettermechanics. I’m getting better but it’s not where I want it yet.”Kelly is currently a 6-handicap with his best score of 72 coming at Belle Terre. He has also played a number of other courses, including Chateau,Metairie Country Club, English Turn, Lakewood and Timberlane.

With the NOGA Tour over with after the summer, his dad has entered Kelly in the Southern Junior Golf Association to give him experience over the winter. Next spring, Kelly, a student at Jesuit High School, will try out forthe varsity team.

Kelly’s dreams don’t stop there. He wants to continue on, playing the minitours like the Buy.com Tour and hoping one day to make it to the big show.”Hopefully, I can get as high as I can,” Kelly said, “Hopefully, the PGA Tour if I practice hard.”

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