I interviewed my friend Kevin at the airport in Santiago, Chile a few days ago.
One of my best friends from college travelled with Kevin on the road during their stint on the Americas Tour a few years back, and he was insistent that I go introduce myself to Kevin.
If you've read me or follow my Instagram page, you'd probably be surprised to learn that I'm a really shy person to most strangers. We played 13 tournaments on the Korn Ferry Tour with him 2 years ago, and I never so much as looked his way while I was in his sight line. I probably walked by Kevin 234 times without saying a peep before finally blurting out anxiously in the Torrey Pines locker room, "Hey Kevin, I'm friends with Matt Cole and I just wanted to introduce myself… I'm Drew." The good thing about writing is that a quote can't possibly properly paint just how rigid my delivery was. I probably slurred 3 of those words just because I was nervous about bothering him.
Fortunately for me, Kevin looked past my inept social skills and we've become good friends since. We played the full season with him last year on the PGA Tour and have gotten to know him well. Below are a few questions I asked him, and his answers, exactly as he said them. One of the many reasons I love Kevin is that he's completely unafraid to answer honestly. He's one of the few professional golfers that I've come across that values thoughtfulness and intention rather than safe and corporate. I understand the latter, but the former is such a refreshing breath of fresh air.
I think you guys will enjoy hearing what he had to say on topics spanning: pace of play, overrated golf courses, hole in ones, the PGA Tour not being what he thought it was, and much more.
Thank you, KV.
Name: Kevin Velo
Age: 28
Club Sponsor: PING
Years Professional: 5.5
College: San Jose State
Hometown: Danville, California
Current Residence: Phoenix
Current practice facility? TPC Scottsdale
Favorite golf course? Riviera Country Club
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Golf course you grew up playing?
I was a muni hopper, so I'd like to highlight San Ramon Golf Club in Dublin, California. That's virtually where I grew up playing. There weren't very many good players; I was basically sprinkled in amongst the average weekend golfers.
Most impactful person in your golf career?
John Kennaday, my college golf coach. John Kennaday was the first guy to give me a shot. He was the only coach to give me a scholarship to go to school and play golf — it was like a $1200 book scholarship. So he was like the first guy to really believe in me.
Favorite singer?
Noah Kahan is a heavy hitter, but pure vocals: Ed Sheeran and Luke Combs. Sorry, I gave you three but those are the guys I'm listening to these days.
Most overrated golf course you've played?
I can't say it on the record, I'll tell you, but you have to redact it. Answer two: San Francisco Golf Club, final answer, on the record… place is incredibly overrated.
Is playing on the PGA Tour everything you dreamed of?
No, not at all. It's too business-y. People don't know how to have fun out there, it seems like, and if you're not in the clique, you feel out of it. The venues are amazing, the amenities are amazing, but I realized (last year) that golf is not the most important thing in the world while playing out on the PGA Tour. And I think some of that could be because everyone else treats it like it is the most important thing in the world. It's weird, everybody weighs golf so much, like oh, 'it's the biggest thing', 'it's the biggest thing', but when you look at it like that and then don't play well, what are you supposed to do? So I felt like when I didn't play well last year, I realized that there were more important things in life — relationships, people, how you treat people, how you treat volunteers, all that stuff was more important at the end of the year than any of the golf stuff that went on during the year. Does that make sense? I honestly just didn't enjoy it. It's like the saying "never meet your heroes". It's amazing and you want to get there, but when you get there, your expectations exceed what it actually is. Because it's still hard as f*** and you still have to play well. I don't know, it was different from what I was expecting.
What do you enjoy doing outside of golf?
I like to play a little bit of poker. My poker handicap is probably the equivalent of a 12 handicap golfer. But I really enjoy playing the game. I love seeing cards come out. I love touching cards, love the interaction, love to people-watch. I love the whole experience.
One thing a chopper should do to immediately improve at golf?
Putt more.
If you could have played for any college team, where would you have gone, and do you think you ended up in the right spot, ultimately?
I would have loved to have played at Stanford because of the facilities and the coach. I probably would have failed out of school. But I went to the right school for me because I played just about every event, except maybe one. So it was great for me because I got a lot better just by getting to go to every tournament, rather than going to a bigger school and always being in and out of the lineup.
Do you watch professional golf when you aren't playing?
No. F*** no.
Favorite tour event?
It's hard to beat Torrey Pines, but the RSM was a really, really nice tournament in general. I thought it was a great atmosphere with two good golf courses. It was awesome, wasn't expecting it to be that good.
In-N-Out: under/over/properly rated?
I think it's underrated. I think it's a fantastic burger and I'm a huge fan of the fries, and people don't even like the fries, so the place is underrated to me.
Three coolest people you've played golf with?
Steph Curry, Pau Gasol, and Joe Pavelski.
Most overrated place you've visited?
Times Square kinda sucks. There are just so many people, it's hard to walk around — and I feel like something (bad) is going to happen every time I'm there. I think Times Square is overrated, you don't need to go — what you get in the pictures is actually better than being there.
City you'd never live in?
Atlanta. You could write down just about any major southern city. I'm not a heat/humidity guy.
City you'd live in if golf weren't your profession?
New York City.
How many holes in ones do you have?
Eleven. And one of those is on a par 4. The other was on the 8th hole at Pasatiempo. I finished up on 9, signed my card, and watched Tiger win The Masters in 2019 like 10 minutes later. Not a bad day.
What did you learn in college?
Hahaha, wow, what a question. I learned how to work hard. I learned how to work really hard. I was the hardest worker on my college team by a million, and I learned that if you outwork people, you can beat most people in life, not just golf, in life. The harder you work, the better your chances are.
If you had to spend one weekend in California, what would you do?
Yosemite. Yosemite is the coolest place in the world — if you haven't been, it's a must-see.
One thing I admired about your approach last year is that it seemed like you were always going out of your way to ask established veterans or decorated players for advice. What's one of the best pieces of advice you learned leaning into that?
Yeah, so I was lucky enough to play a practice round at the U.S. Open with Lucas Glover, which was very cool, just me and him. The U.S. Open is generally firm; it's hard, super hard golf. So I just asked him point-blank, "How do you hit your low draw out here on every shot?" He said, it's the shot that I know, it's the shot that I hit, and I'm not going to change that. I felt like I spent the entire year trying to change my ball flight, and he's made so many millions of dollars just playing this boring, flat draw the entire time. I think the best advice would be to probably just own your game, but it's a really hard thing to do. Everybody out there hits it so good, you have to perfect what you're good at and not try to become someone you're not. (This is the same piece of advice Tony Finau gave Riedel last year at the Wyndham). And that's why these guys are so good, is that they're so good at filtering out all the bulls*** and focusing on what will make them better, not what might make them better.
One question you'd like to hear a group of professional golfers answer, completely honestly?
Why do you do it? I think it's important to think about why we're actually doing what we're doing. What is the meaning of it all? Why do I do it? I don't know yet. It's TBD. Last year, I thought about it a lot, especially when I wasn't happy. Because if I'm not going to be happy with the best job in the world, then what is gonna make me happy? So I'm in the process of figuring that out. But I'd love to ask that to a group of older guys, vets who have been out there. Because I think my ultimate goal would be to make a bunch of money playing golf, start a foundation, and let that become the reason why I play. I think that would be really cool. I also don't play golf to play golf; I do it for the competition. I love competition.
Do you think that pace of play is a problem?
*laughs hysterically* Pace of play is a huge problem. They need A. more rules officials out there. B. a better monitoring system, and C. we need to start stroking guys, seriously. Put that on the record, listen to this: I had a guy in my group today who consistently marked 12-inch putts out there. What are we doing? Basically costing us a minute a hole out there. It was horrific.
If you weren't a professional golfer, what would you be doing?
I'd be selling something. I'd be a relationship guy at some sort of company. I feel like I'm a good people person; it's probably why I thrive in pro-ams.
Del Campos you want the most?
The whole catalog, is that an acceptable answer? No? Okay, more specifically, the denim smileys and those new crew socks they just came out with. I've been eyeing those since they released them.
And that's it. I pressed stop on the voice memo, and we boarded our 10 hour flight to Houston. I grabbed my bags at 5 am, giddy to unpack and head to Memorial Park for a run. Kevin grabbed his bags and headed into the depths of Bush Airport, dreading his 5 hour layover before going to see his girlfriend in Seattle.
Life is full of choices.
Drew Murdock aka Murda
