SCORING | GALLERY (to come)
ERIE — Inside of Rival Restaurant and Sports Bar in O’Hara Township hangs an autographed portrait of Carson Kittsley, taken following his victory in the PIAA Golf Championships this past fall.
It may be time to make room for another photo.
Kittsley, the mild-mannered 17-year-old budding sensation, shot a 3-over score of 213, winning the 126th West Penn Amateur at The Kahkwa Club in Erie.
With the win, Kittsley becomes the youngest known champion in the illustrious 126-year history of the championship.
“It was a lot of fun this week out here competing,“ said Kittsley, a rising senior at Fox Chapel High School who secured his first WPGA major championship Tuesday. “It was a great, great test here at Kahkwa. The whole week, I didn’t really look at the leaderboard at all and focused on my process and not really getting caught up in the results.”
Kittsley shot an opening round score of 70 Monday morning, and took an early lead during the afternoon’s second round. But he stumbled down the stretch Monday and sat two strokes off of the lead heading into Tuesday’s final round.
“The most challenging part about it was the green complexes and the rough,” said Kittsley, who has won consecutive WPIAL and PIAA titles over the last two seasons. “Being in the fairway was huge this week and I feel like I lost a lot of shots by not hitting the fairway. But I’m still really happy with how I played.”
At 17 years, 3 months and 25 days old, Kittsley became the youngest West Penn Am champion, and did so a year after nearly pulling off a win in the championship at Sunnehanna Country Club last July.
“Last year motivated me and made me work harder, because I knew where my potential was at,” said Kittsley, who had his brother, Davis, caddy for him in Tuesday’s final round. “And this is only the beginning.”
Only two other players have won the competition at 17 years of age according to the recorded history of the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association, William Miller in 2006 and Arnold Palmer in 1947. Miller, who went on the play at Georgia Tech, was roughly two weeks older than Kittsley. Palmer, who became one of golf’s all-time greatest figures, was about four months older.
“It's just unbelievable to be compared to even being in the same sentence as Arnold Palmer,” said Kittsley, a member at Oakmont Country Club who is committed collegiately to Penn State. “He's an idol of mine growing up in Western Pennsylvania. It's super, super cool to be a part of that.”
Colton Lusk, a Peters Township grad, finished second at 5-over. West Virginia University’s Nick Turowski was 6-over and Mike Wolfe, a member at The Kahkwa Club, was 7-over.
But it was Kittsley who, through the ups and downs of the three rounds, showed maturity and poise beyond his years in etching his name into Western Pennsylvania golf history.
“This was huge for me,” he said. “I haven't been playing that great all spring and this was a huge confidence builder for me to show that I'm still capable of doing things like this.
“I feel like I needed a big win like this and to breakthrough, so I'm excited for the rest of the summer and see where it takes me.”
As for another photo in Rival?
“Yeah,” he said with a laugh. “There might be.”
For any media inquiries, please contact WPGA Director of Communications Josh Rowntree.
