Former CU golfer Robyn Choi places second in Symetra event for her third consecutive top-11 finish; Boulder County native George Cunningham notches best Korn Ferry showing since January, making ace in process
By Gary Baines – 9/6/2020
Former University of Colorado golfer Robyn Choi spent last year on the LPGA Tour before losing her card, but she seems determined to return to the premier women’s golf circuit in the world as soon as possible.
Since coming back to the Symetra Tour in mid-August following a Covid-19 hiatus, the native of Australia has recorded three consecutive top-11 finishes. The most recent of those came on Sunday at the Four Winds Invitational in South Bend, Ind., where she held the outright lead on the back nine of the final round before finishing solo second.
Choi was 6 under par through 16 holes on Sunday, but a bogey on No. 17 proved pivotal as it dropped her a stroke behind eventual champion Kim Kaufman, who ended up one stroke ahead of the former Buff.
Choi posted rounds of 69-70-67 for a 10-under-par total of 206. She earned $13,978 in the process.
Her runner-up showing comes on the heels of 11th- and ninth-place finishes on the Symetra Tour since mid-August.
Choi now stands sixth on the 2020 Symetra money list with $19,504.
Earlier this year, in February, Choi recorded her best LPGA Tour finish ever, a sixth place at the ISPS Handa Vic Open in Australia, an event co-sanctioned by the LPGA Tour and the Australian Ladies Professional Golf circuit. Choi was medalist in the ALPG qualifying tournament in January.
Choi played 2 1/2 seasons at CU before earning her LPGA Tour card for the 2019 season. During her time spent in Colorado, Choi qualified for two U.S. Women’s Opens — in 2017 and 2018.
Elsewhere in major professional golf for players with strong Colorado ties:
— George Cunningham, who was born in Boulder County, used a hole-in-one to post his best finish on the Korn Ferry Tour since January. The grandson of the late Chuck Melvin, a former Colorado Cup player, missed 14 consecutive cuts on the KF Tour until recently snapping the streak. But he finished 29th on Sunday in the Lincoln Land Championship in Springfield, Ill. Cunningham, who made his ace on hole No. 5 of the second round, recorded scores of 67-67-73-67 for a 10-under-par total of 274.