Last year’s Cinderella is leading the U.S. Amateur

CHASKA, Minn. – Cinderella has returned to the ball.

And so far, Paul Chang is one of the belles.

Chang was an unranked club golfer when he nearly advanced to the quarterfinals of last summer’s U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills, pushing eventual semifinalist J.M. Butler to extra holes before the clock struck midnight. Now, the 23-year-old University of Virginia senior has a season of varsity golf under his belt, sits 97th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, and on Monday at Chaska Town Course, he fired a 6-under 64 to grab a share lead in his second U.S. Amateur.

“Last year, I didn’t feel like I belonged here at all,” Chang said. “I was testing the waters, didn’t know who’s who. … This year definitely feels different.”

Chang’s leading first-round scorecard featured four 2’s – three on par-3s and an eagle at the 318-yard, par-4 16th hole, where Chang drove the green and then rolled in a 40-footer. For Chang, it was a bit of déjà vu. Against Butler last year, Chang holed out for an eagle on Cherry Hills’ 16th hole.

“It’s been a fascinating story,” Virginia head coach Bowen Sargent said during Chang’s breakout.

It’s only gotten better.

To catch you up: Chang was born in China, attended boarding school in England and didn’t get serious about golf until taking a gap year after high school. He applied to a few U.S. colleges before enrolling in a computer-science program at Virginia. Prior to starting classes, he emailed Sargent to ask about joining the Cavaliers’ team, only to be informed that a spot wouldn’t be that easy. For two years, Chang practiced at Virginia’s home course, often riding a rental scooter from his apartment, and after he’d play a tournament, he’d email the result to Sargent. The persistence, however, didn’t pay off until Chang qualified for his first U.S. Amateur last summer; Sargent happened to be recruiting a high-schooler in Chang’s group, and once Chang qualified, Sargent called him into his office the next morning to offer him a walk-on spot.

Chang followed his magical week at Cherry Hills by turning in arguably the most consistent fall season of any Virginia player, including Walker Cupper Ben James. Chang notched two top-10s and didn’t finish worse than T-16 in four starts. But that’s when Chang started, as he describes it, “experimenting with a lot of the wrong things.”

He switched out of the JumboMax grips he had played for two years.

He tried to cure his hook tendency by ditching his draw and hitting a steep cut, only to then develop a two-way miss.

He went through several putters.

The lowest point for Chang was shooting 81 in the second round and eventually beating just four players at Virginia’s home tournament last April. He wouldn’t travel for the rest of the spring, not even as the sixth man for the postseason.

“That really affected his confidence,” Sargent said. “With Birdwood being his home course and that being the first opportunity he had to play at home, he was expecting a good chance to contend. I think playing so poorly really set him back. It’s nice to see him bounce back and have a good summer.”

Chang has had a busy past couple months, playing four Elite Amateur Series events prior to the U.S. Amateur. He tied for ninth at the Northeast and finished just outside the top 25 at the Sunnehanna. Chang missed cuts in his most recent starts, at the Southern and Western amateurs, but he has since ditched his latest experiment: arm-lock putting.

Back to a traditional blade with a pistol grip, Chang rolled in six total birdies to go along with his eagle bomb on Monday. Now, he’s tasked with taking on the tougher of the two stroke-play hosts, Hazeltine National, on Tuesday.

Of the 22 scores of 3 under or better in Round 1, just three – 69s by Calum Scott, James Ashfield and Sohan Patel – were recorded on Hazeltine. Chang’s 64 was equaled by Ole Miss junior Tom Fischer, who eagled his final hole, Chaska’s par-5 ninth. Among the competitors at 4 under are mid-amateur Evan Beck, Arizona State’s Michael Mjaaseth, Louisville’s Cooper Claycomb and UNLV’s Caden Fioroni.

Fioroni knows plenty about Chang; he lost to him in the Round of 64 last year.

He’s certainly no longer alone.