Choi Wins WTGA State Amateur Championship
7/29/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
July 29, 2016
DALLAS, Texas -- With a 3-and-2 victory over No. 11 seeded Julie Houston, University of Michigan women's golfer Grace Choi won the 2016 Women's Texas Golf Association (WTGA) State Amateur Championship being held at the Brook Hollow Golf Club.
Entering the final match against Houston, who plays collegiately at UTSA, Choi had an opportunity to claim her first state amateur title. The pairing matched pars over the first four holes before a bogey by Choi saw her drop one-down after the fifth hole.
Rebounding with a par on the par-4 seventh hole, Choi evened the match after a Houston bogey. On the next hole, a second Choi par followed with another bogey by Houston giving Choi her first lead of the championship, 1-up.
As the match settled again, the duo posted another string of four straight pars as Choi maintained her 1-up advantage with six holes to play. With back-to-back birdies on Nos 13 and 14, Choi broke the stalemate pushing her lead to 3-up. Halving the next two holes, she sealed the championship and her first amateur title.
"It means so much to me to have won this tournament in my home state of Texas," said Choi. "I knew today was going to be a grind. My goal was to just focus on my game and to not get too caught up in what my competitor was doing. All I could do today was bring all I had and that's what I did. I didn't hit it as good as I had been hitting it, but I made a lot of clutch putts, especially at the end."
Choi was able to reach the finals after beginning the championship securing the 13th seed with a 76 in the stroke play qualifying round. Moving to match play, Choi used a 5-and-3 win over No. 20 seed Autumn Bynum to reach the Sweet 16.
Back-to-back 4-and-3 wins over No. 4 Amber Park and No. 5 Brielle Ward sent Choi to the semifinal against No. 9 Marty Monzingo. Winning the first six holes of the semifinal, Choi used a dominating 7-and-6 win to reach the championship match.
Choi is the second Wolverine to win a 2016 summer event following Megan Kim's victory at the Long Beach Women's City Championship at the El Dorado Golf Course.
• 2016 WTGA Amateur Championship
Communication Contact: Tom Wywrot
