A year away from college has done wonders for Claire Choi.
The Santa Clara senior golfer, who opted out of competing collegiately as a junior due to the COVID-19 pandemic, won her first two tournaments in back- to-back starts heading into the West Coast Conference Championships that begin Thursday in Henderson, Nev.
The 2018 Punahou alumna won the Wyoming Cowgirl Classic earlier this month to become the first Santa Clara golfer to win individual medalist honors since another Punahou aluma, Kristin Le, in 2017.
She backed it up with another win at the Bobcat Desert Classic last week, going wire-to-wire to win by six shots, finishing at 2-under 214.
“Everything is going great,” Choi said in a phone interview Monday. “That was pretty fun to do. They were both in Arizona, so I think Arizona gave me some good luck.”
Choi said both tournaments had windy conditions similar to what she remembers practicing in growing up in Hawaii.
She first had a club put in her hand when she was 4, but said she hated the game and quit just a year later.
She didn’t get back into it until she was 13, when her grandparents asked her to come play a round.
“They play golf almost every day,” Choi said. “They asked me to come back and play with their friends, and so when I started to compete again and play with people my age, I think naturally it became a sport I was interested in.”
Choi remembers shooting a 104 in her first tournament, but by the end of the year, she said, she started shooting rounds in the 70s.
She finished her high school career winning back-to-back state championships before enrolling at Santa Clara.
“Because I started golf later on, my recruiting process was naturally a bit different than others,” Choi said. “The coach (at Santa Clara) was very nice and very welcoming and she was the first coach to reach out to me and we just kind of clicked. That’s what brought me here.”
Choi competed in all 16 events her first two years at Santa Clara before the pandemic hit.
Instead of coming back for her junior season, she decided to stay home and take classes online.
“It was a family thing and they didn’t want me to play during COVID,” Choi said. “But it worked out. I played in the U.S. Women’s Open qualifier when I was home and was fortunate enough to qualify for a spot.”
Choi shot rounds of 75 and 77 in the 2021 U.S. Women’s Open and missed the cut by four shots, but finished tied for sixth among the amateurs who played in the event.
She played a practice round with Yuka Saso, who went on to win the major.
“That was a lot of fun,” Choi said. “I was able to learn from her game and apply it to my own in terms of strategic planning on the course and seeing how she prepared for the tournament. I think just playing under that pressure and having all of those eyes on me really helped prepare me for this year.”
Choi had finished in the top four of three events this season before finally breaking through at the Wyoming Cowgirl Classic.
She finished the tournament at 3-under 213 and was one of just two golfers in the field to finish under par.
“I just think this whole college year, I had the pieces and I wasn’t able to fit them all together in a sense and I think everything has just started to click,” Choi said. “At practice, my coaches and I are really working hard on the things I need to improve, and I think that has really helped.”
The conference tournament begins Thursday at Reflection Bay Golf Course and there’s a good chance the wind will be strong, which Choi thinks gives her an advantage.
“Growing up in Hawaii, I’m used to it, so I think that I have some advantages in the wind,” Choi said. “I think the wind might possess some stress for other golfers, but I am used to it and it doesn’t bother me.”
Claire Choi
>> School: Santa Clara
>> Class: Senior
>> High school: Punahou (2018)
