Caddie Curl Making Second Run at a U.S. Junior Amateur Title

Jeff Curl enjoyed a mildly successful professional career, playing what is now called the Korn Ferry Tour for eight years and winning a pair of Connecticut State Opens. But the son of PGA Tour winner Rod Curl, the first full-blooded Native American to win a PGA Tour event, has enjoyed better success as a caddie in USGA championships. Two years ago, he helped guide Nick Dunlap to the U.S. Junior Amateur title at The Country Club of North Carolina. A year later, he was on Dunlap’s bag at Bandon Dunes when he advanced to the semifinals, and he looped for Dunlap at the past two U.S. Opens. Now Curl, who was born in Redding, Calif., and moved to Connecticut at age 7, is looking for a second USGA title. This week at Daniel Island Club, Curl is on the bag of another Alabama resident, Chase Kyes. The Birmingham native advanced to the Round of 32 on Wednesday with a convincing 7-and-5 win over University of Arizona rising sophomore Zachery Pollo. Kyes is a rising high school junior whose father was an All-America second baseman at Ohio University. Dunlap, currently No. 10 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking®, has put himself in position to make the 2023 USA Walker Cup Team by winning the 2023 Northeast Amateur and North & South Amateur.