Before they turned pro: Kevin Velo
12 Feb 2024
by Justin Golba of AmateurGolf.com
see also: Kevin Velo Rankings
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Kevin Velo (San Jose State Athletics Photo)
Kevin Velo, a San Jose State alumnus, won his first Korn Ferry Tour tournament this past weekend at the Astara Golf Championship at Country Club de Bogota, winning in a playoff over Bruce Campbell at 22-under.
Not to mention, he broke the tournament scoring record in securing the win. Velo, at 22-under 261, recorded the lowest score in tournament history.
Velo overcame a four-shot deficit with two holes to play, birding No. 17 and 18, while leader Bruce Campbell made a double bogey on No. 17 and par on 18. Then, in the playoff, Velo made another birdie on No. 18, winning the tournament.
Velo is friends with former top California amateur Isaiah Salinda and was inspired by seeing him win on the Korn Ferry Tour last week at the Panama Championship by a convincing eight shots.
“I had a call with my coach on Wednesday afternoon after I was hitting balls, and I told him I'm ready to do what Isaiah did,” Velo told the PGA Tour after the win. “We're super competitive that if I didn't have enough motivation, that fired me up even more. So I'm really happy for him, but I'm glad I got him.”
Velo was a talented amateur who played at San Jose State University from 2015-2019. He is a two-time winner of the San Jose City Championship in 2017 and 2018 and won the Santa Clara County in 2019 before turning professional.
As a pro, he won the San Juan Open and the Outlaw Tour's Matchplay championship in 2022, earning him Korn Ferry Tour membership for the 2022-23 season.
Related: VELO RUNS AWAY WITH SAN JOSE CITY TITLE
In 2018-19, he earned All-Mountain West accolades during his senior season and tallied a team-best scoring average of 71.40 as a senior. He is the only four-time Venturi Award Winner for the team MVP. Velo finished No. 4 in the PGA Tour Latinoamérica's Totalplay Cup standings.
The Kevin Velo File
College: San Jose State University (2015-2019)
Residence: Danville, Calif.
Amateur Victories
2016 LasPo Open
2017 San Jose City
2018 San Jose City
2019 Santa Clara County