Individually, everyone in Hawaii’s golfing Le family could make you shake your head in awe.
The siblings might never reach Olympic heights in their sport, but when you pause and consider what all three have accomplished athletically and academically at such a tender age it is remarkable.
Elliot, Eric and Kristin Le are living the American dream their family envisioned when it came from Vietnam. They seem to be doing it at an astonishing pace.
The most recent example came Tuesday when Kristin won her third Oahu Country Club Women’s Invitational in as many tries. Like the Waialae Women’s Invitational a month earlier, she had the best low-gross and low net scores — a rare double.
She is headed back to the University of Santa Clara for her junior year. The youngest child is the only sibling who played college golf, after winning three state team titles at Punahou. She has earned All-American Scholar and West Coast Conference All-Academic honors her first two years, earned all-conference honors, is third in school history in stroke average — behind teammate Annie Freman and Kauai’s Miki Ueoka — and won a college event last February.
When she graduates, she hopes to land a job “at a great accounting firm” in San Jose, where her grandparents were accountants. She would also like to golf “until I can’t walk anymore,” for business and pleasure.
She is not the best golfer in the family, but she is the most organized — brother Eric calls her “meticulous” — and hardest worker.
“She will not stop until whatever she is doing is perfect,” oldest brother Elliot adds. “She is also the best at chores.”
That is a joke, but Eric, an all-ILH selection at `Iolani, is not joking when he tells you he is the best golfer in the family. Elliot and Kristin confirm it, but never without a battle that probably began when all three were taking beginner lessons with David Ishii.
Eric will be a senior at Santa Clara this fall and is applying to dental school. Kristin says his best quality is that he is “a people person.” Elliot calls him the most perceptive and funny of the three, and “a golf nerd” trying to create new ways to be competitive even when he has no time to practice.
Elliot is in his second year at Duke Medical School, after graduating from Santa Clara with a 3.95 GPA in commerce and finance, while serving as a volunteer First Tee coach. He will follow in the formidable footsteps of father Lam Le, an ophthalmologist, and mother Lenhanh Tran, an otolaryngologist (ear, nose and throat).
It was Lam who started golfing more than 10 years ago, a few years after the Les moved here. His sons got interested, then got good. Kristin tagged along and got pulled in by the game, the friends who came from it and her brothers’ success.
“My brothers were never too competitive with me until I attended Punahou,” she says. “Then the rivalry began, especially when we entered high school.”
The rivalry, and the game brought them even closer.
“We stuck to golf because we simply enjoyed the game,” Kristin recalls. “Not only do you get to travel to new places and play great golf courses, but creating relationships with people from all over the world makes any round enjoyable and memorable.
“We continued golf because it is always something we can do as a family. My parents are busy with work, so golf is a time that we can spend quality time together and relax.”
The kids’ passion for the game that has brought them so close, and their discipline in every aspect of their life, has them on an exceptionally diverse fast track.
They are elite golfers with a gift for teaching the game. They are brilliant scholars with a vivid focus on the future. They are a close family not shy about declaring its devotion.
“I love both of my siblings,” Elliot says with no hesitation. “They are the best anyone could ask for.”
Elliot has an innate talent for learning and for offering his brother and sister advice. They always listen.
The oldest brother has also found that golf and academics intersect — “golf is challenging and imperfect, just like school.” More importantly, he finds “golf and life intersect,” from his “one stroke at a time” mantra on the course and in med school, to the planning and flexibility needed in both pursuits.
He hasn’t had much time for the golf the past four years, but still plays to a single-digit handicap and never backs off against his brother.
“We are always trash-talking and jeering each other on the course,” he says. “My parents love and hate it.”
Mostly, they probably love it. They brought up three kids who found a competitive outlet they love, are focused enough to reach great heights professionally and have each other’s backs.
What parents could ask for more? Their work ethic and perseverance is mirrored in three extremely well-rounded and successful children.
“We’ve always been taught that hard work, discipline, and passion will help you succeed in anything that you do,” Kristin says. “Being passionate and enjoying whatever you decide to do is so important and I think a lot of people forget that. If you enjoy learning and playing golf or any sport, you’ll always try your best and stay motivated to be a better student and golfer.
“That is how we grew up and it’s how we continue to live our lives. The three of us are passionate about the future that we have envisioned for ourselves and that is what keeps us motivated to work hard in the classroom and on the course. If you’re spending the time to do something, why not do your best and be the best?”