Doctors confirmed the worst. Without a second surgery to repair the ligament — a procedure that was not recommended — Keller would have to stop playing baseball.
So, as he prepared for his freshman year at Paul VI, Keller shifted his focus to golf. He had played a little in the past for fun, but now he saw it as a way to continue his athletic career.
Ten months later, the freshman is thriving for a Panthers team with Washington Catholic Athletic Conference championship aspirations.
“I really just fell in love with the game,” he said. “It’s been something that I can [play] whenever I want, enjoy, and constantly get better at.”
His golf habit started as a way to spend time with his brother and connect with his family. But as his love for the game grew, he developed a competitive edge. When he beat his father at their home course for the first time, he knew he might have a chance to compete at the high school level.
“It was a bittersweet moment,” Chase’s father, Geoff, joked. “You’re obviously proud of your son that he had gotten good at something so quickly, and the other side was ‘I may never beat him again.’”
It’s been full speed ahead ever since. Keller tried out for the Paul VI golf team this spring and his play immediately impressed Coach Dennis McGowan.
“The first thing I noticed about him was that he was very confident, which I love,” he said. “When he hit the ball, it was straight as an arrow and he was keeping up with the older kids. I [just thought] ‘Oh, this kid’s a player.’ I knew it from there.”
With UCL injuries increasingly common in professional baseball, McGowan hopes that Keller’s path to finding success on the golf course might be the start of a trend of athletes participating in sports that place less stress on the body and lead to fewer severe injuries among high schoolers.
Keller has averaged 39.8 strokes per nine holes in matches this season, good for fourth-best on the team. Helping his team to an 10-1 record so far this spring, Keller’s performance has played a pivotal role putting Paul VI in position to compete for a WCAC title.
His play has not gone unnoticed among his teammates, especially the upperclassmen who hope to leave their program in good hands when they graduate.
“He gets along really well [with the other players], but he’s also very competitive and I think he’s doing a great job getting acclimated to the team,” said Panthers senior Ryan Billak. “He knows what he needs to do to win and when he needs to show up and hit a [big] shot.”
Keller says that growth in confidence has stemmed from the transition from baseball to golf, citing that difference in play style has allowed him to become a more focused athlete.
“[Playing] baseball I was a little more timid in everything I did,” he said. “I definitely helps that, with golf, I have a lot more time to think about what I’m doing. In baseball everything is rushed and split-second decisions.”
His dream of playing college baseball has been replaced by a new hope.
“My new goal is to make it to college golf and see where that takes me,” he said. “That’s a long way away, but we’re going to work to it.”