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Men's Golf

Cougar Scholars: Kevin Bullington

Bullington interning with Illinois Junior Golf Association

Cougar Scholars is a monthly series highlighting Chicago State student-athletes through the lens of their studies and professional pursuits. This month features men's golfer Kevin Bullington. Read more from our previous scholar-athletes here:
Remembering names used to be Kevin Bullington's Achilles heel.

"I always used to struggle with that," Bullington said. "Especially with people wearing masks for the past year, I couldn't do it."

But a month into his summer internship with the Illinois Junior Golf Association, consider Bullington a pro.

"I've gotten really good at memorizing faces and names," Bullington said. "I see mostly the same kids and build relationships with them during the summer. There's nothing better than seeing a kid, and they don't know that you know their name, and you go up to them and know their name. They're like, Wow, you know my name!'"

Bullington, a rising senior golfer at Chicago State, is a business management major. He knows his newfound weapon can power him to bloom in the professional world.

 "I think that can really help in business, with meeting new people," Bullington said. "I really surprised myself with that one. I'm pretty proud."

Bullington is serving as a Tournament Coordinator Intern for the IJGA, where he works various youth tournaments in the Chicagoland area.

"We have four interns and need to work together," Bullington said. "This really helps me with communicating effectively in tough situations. In the business world, that's 95 percent of it."

On a cold, overcast day, Bullington described his new role from Silver Lake Country Club in Orland Park as he set up for a tournament featuring area high schoolers.

"Being outside and around golf all day is amazing," Bullington said. "I'm usually out here for 10 to 11 hours a day. I can't really complain about being out on a golf course for that long."

On any given day, Bullington's duties might entail running registration, starting, scoring or rules enforcement. The latter role allows him to navigate the course in a golf cart.

"I'm getting pretty good at whipping it around," Bullington said.

Bullington, who didn't start golfing until after his sophomore year of high school, wants to work in golf or in the quick-booming esports industry.

"I follow a lot of professional gaming," Bullington said. "There are certain companies who run those tournaments. I can't sit in an office all day, so something like that is right up my alley."

After a junior season in which he was the Cougars' top finisher in seven of nine events, Bullington's golf worldview has already expanded quite a bit.

"There's a lot of stuff behind the scenes that people don't realize," Bullington said. "The full-time staff here spends so much time planning the courses, the money and all that. There's so much more than just running the tournament the day of. It takes a lot to get everything situated."
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Players Mentioned

Kevin Bullington

Kevin Bullington

Junior

Players Mentioned

Kevin Bullington

Kevin Bullington

Junior