Early momentum carried Urbana's AnPhi Le to rare distinction at county golf tournament
Apr. 13—Despite the gloomy weather, AnPhi Le was plenty motivated Friday as she stepped on the moist course at Clustered Spires Golf Club.
She was going for her third FCPS girls county title, and she'd been such a consistent performer in the lead-up that the overall title was likely within her reach.
Then, the Urbana junior hit her second shot of the day — and all of that positivity began to waver.
"I chunked it," she said.
Le could feel her nerves start to rattle as she approached her ball for a chip made more difficult by that early mistake on the first hole. But she calmed herself, then sank the shot for a birdie — riding a roller-coaster route to momentum that would last the rest of her round.
"I was taking my time, and I was really excited after making that," she said of the initial birdie, which came from about 15 yards with a pitching wedge. "I felt better. I felt like it was going to be a good day."
Sure enough, Le finished with a 3-under-par 69, awarding her the girls title and the rare distinction of being a female with the lowest overall score in the county tournament.
She said the win made her feel special. And it came with a plaque that she's added to the ever-growing collection of golf rewards on display in her bedroom — including one, she said, that's so heavy she keeps it on her dresser because it otherwise might cause one of her wall-mounted shelves to fall down.
That trophy came from the 2020 Maryland State Women's Amateur, where Le beat Ohio State-bound and fellow Frederick golfer Faith Choi, 3 and 2, in the semifinals before finishing as runner-up.
Coincidentally, last summer was when Le said she got serious about golf, a sport she took up when she was 10 because she saw her younger brother, Minh, having so much fun on the course.
Over the past three years, Le has given up basketball and swimming to devote most of her time to improving her golf game. Even during the winter months, that meant heading to Worthington Manor nearly every day with Minh, an Urbana freshman, to practice.
Still, she wasn't as sharp as she wanted to be heading into this unique four-week spring season for her high school team.
Displeased with how she started the season, she kept working on her swing with her father, Tuong, and began to medal consistently at the Hawks' dual meets with scores in the 30s. By the time the county championships were scheduled, she'd become a threat to win it.
But the event arrived on a morning after rain soaked the Frederick course, creating less-than-ideal conditions. FCPS golf chairman Clint Henderson and Clustered Spires general manager Scott Peterson decided to make some concessions. They chose to allow players to lift, clean and replace their ball after any shot. Also, they declared that all bunkers were "ground under repair."
"Players could choose to take relief if they hit their ball into a water-logged bunker, move their ball to the point of nearest relief outside of the bunker and no closer to the hole within one club length," Henderson, also the TJ golf coach, said in an email Monday.
Le said those two rule adjustments "made everything much easier" on the golfers. She took advantage of the lift-and-clean rule after every shot but avoided all of the bunkers anyway.
She finished with four birdies, on Nos. 1, 3, 4 and 6.
After six holes, she was at 4 under par. And, while she had no idea how she was faring against the rest of the field outside of her quartet, she just needed to maintain her focus, figuring the result would take care of itself.
"You've just gotta kind of worry about how you're playing and not how everybody else is playing," Le said.
Her group was the second to finish Friday, and the first group's top scorer, Oakdale's Chris Lee, had shot a 71, two strokes behind Le. Then, in came the next group. Le's Urbana teammate, Bach Ngo, had carded a 70.
Le surveyed the situation.
"At that point, I was like, I probably won this whole thing," she said.
No one else was able to challenge her 69 on that cold, damp day.
"I was absolutely tickled for her that she would post such a score," said Urbana coach Joe Cook, whose Hawks claimed their 11th team title in 12 years.
It was another feather in the cap for a girl who already owns some heavy hardware and, in 2019, recorded two aces in the span of a month.
Next, Le plans to play in the LPGA Pure Silk Junior Championships on April 24-25 in Williamsburg, Virginia. After attaining a couple of goals Friday, it's the next item in Le's sights.
"If I win that," she said, "I get to have a chance to qualify for an LPGA tournament."
