In Lancaster, 2015 U.S. Women’s Open champion In Gee Chun has found a surprising second home

LANCASTER, Pa. — When In Gee Chun comes back to Lancaster, which happens once or twice a year, Jody Kegel’s dogs are usually sitting in the driveway waiting for her arrival—there’s Forrest, who is still around, and Webster, who passed away last summer after Chun’s most recent visit. Forrest knows the 2015 U.S. Women’s Open champion better than he knows Kegel’s adult children by now, and the minute Kegel says her name, he gets excited.

Inside the house, there will be a jar of Wilbur Buds waiting; made in nearby Lititz, they are Chun’s favorite chocolate treat, and the first thing she’ll go for when she gets past the dog. This house in Lancaster is where she eats, where she sleeps, and where Kegel will sometimes find her in the morning sitting on the kitchen floor, re-organizing an entire cabinet and throwing away expired foods. If you measure the concept of home by comfort, it’s no wonder Chun considers this a second home.

“I have my grandmom here,” Chun said Wednesday. “Her name is Jody. We have a special relationship.”

“I’m really like a grandmother to her,” Kegel said in a phone call minutes later, echoing Chun even though she hadn’t heard her speak. “And I think of her the exact same way. It’s very, very unique and very, very special.”

Chun has made strides with her English in the last few years, though she still needs an interpreter, or at least clarification, in certain moments. But when this strange connection with Kegel began, she knew almost no English. How could a relationship like this come about? The answer is it was impossible without a surprising champion who cared very deeply.

Chun won her first LPGA event, which happened to be the U.S. Open at Lancaster Country Club, when she was just 20 years old. There was something special happening that week when she beat Amy Yang by a shot, and she recognized the feeling on the 12th hole when fans began shouting her nickname, “Dumbo,” at her. How did they know? It remained a mystery, but the connection to a place that was 6,984 miles from her native Gunsan, South Korea began to grow.