Junior Peicheng Chen has been the face of the St. John’s Men’s Golf team since his first season in 2021 and his development has paved the way for consistent success for the whole team.
Chen and freshman standout Thomas Finn set the tone for the 2024 season, with the duo finishing within the top 15 at The Macdonald Cup, the second tournament of the season. Arguably the best showing for the team was a second place outing at Palm Beach, Florida which ended on April 2. The team shot five-under, the lowest score of the season, while Chen carded a ridiculous eight-under for the weekend.
The team’s most recent performance in the Robert Kepler Intercollegiate tournament at Ohio State from April 19 through April 21 is just another example of the winning culture Chen provides. His top-five finish out of all 99 golfers in the tournament with a superb four-over card helped the team’s top-three finish on the final day.
Following the tournament, Chen told The Torch that despite the difficult terrain of the course the team continued to fight.
“It was insane, but our team rallied,” Chen said. “We’re really proud of ourselves and how we did. I just tried to make a run as low as possible to keep my spot a little bit higher.”
Finishing strong has been the theme all year for Chen and the rest of the team. The work ethic and chemistry between the squad is a driving factor for this immunity to pressure.
“Everyone is passionate about golf and everybody is a great person. We just try to do the best we can do, just keep up the hard work and the good results will come,” Chen said.
For his individual success, this season has been another one to remember as he was awarded Big East Golfer of the Week on April 4.
Awards like this are no stranger to Chen, having been named to the All Big East First Team last season and being the recipient of the John T. Gimmler Golf MVP Award.
Regarding his substantial trophy collection, Chen had a rather humble response.
“I’ll say it’s proof from the outside to show I’m actually not bad as a golfer,” Chen said. “But the thing is, no matter how other people judge my performance or how the whole community judges my performance, I just do the best I can do. If I don’t get it, it’s fine I just move on next week.”
As this season rounds out, the beginning of the end for Chen’s time at St. John’s does also. Chen shared some reflections on his time in Queens as an international student from Beijing, China.
“I treat this place as my home,” Chen said. “This place taught me stuff, protected me and gave me an opportunity to show who I am. And this means a lot to me.”
To end his junior season, Chen and the rest of the men’s golf team will head to South Carolina to compete in the Big East Championships.
Chen hopes to help the team land higher on the leaderboard and improve further from last year’s second-place finish. “Everyone on our team has the ability to win the college golf tournament by themselves,” Chen said. “We are such a great team, we just haveto not focus on the field, more focus on ourselves. That’s the only thing we have to do and the good results will come up, I’m sure.”
The Big East Championships Tournament tees off on April 27.
