Daniel Choi (Submitted Photo)
Daniel Choi, a rising junior at Duke, ran away with the win at the W.E. Cole Cotton States Amateur at Bayou DeSiard Country Club in Monroe, La.
Choi finished 14-under with rounds of 68-69-67-70 to win by seven shots over Joshua Achord and Ben De LaRosa, who finished T2 at 7-under. Davis Miller finished in solo fourth place at 5-under.
"I was hitting it well coming into the week, and I had a very good idea of where the ball was going, and I was rolling it well," Choi said. "The big thing for me was eliminating bogeys. I played it aggressively to conservative spots and made a couple of big putts each day."
Choi added, "I really just tried to play my game." Choi recently finished in solo third place at the Texas Amateur.
Due to rain for the first three days of the tournament, Choi played 27 holes on Saturday, nine holes to finish his third round, and all of his final round.
Choi entered the final round with a five-shot lead, and his Duke teammate and 2023 U.S. Junior Amateur champion Bryan Kim helped him remember how he got there.
"He (Kim) just told me that the game plan I have been playing with over the last three days got me a four-shot lead, so why would I change anything?" Choi said.
Choi's father, K.J., an eight-time winner on the PGA Tour, is currently leading the Senior British Open by one shot, so he will look to follow his son's lead in securing a big win.
"It is fun to watch," the younger Choi said. "I was fortunate that when I finished my nine hours this morning, I had about an hour, so I turned on the stream and got to see him play. We have been using each other as motivation. We are not playing well and want to win these golf tournaments. He called me after I won today and was really happy for me."
Choi is entering an important season at Duke, and this win helps reassure him that his game is good enough to compete against anyone.
"At this point, I feel very confident in my fame, and I know how important this semester is, so confidence-wise, it doesn't boost it any more than this," Choi said.
ABOUT THE
Cotton States Amateur
Originally played in 1949 as the Bayou
DeSiard Labor Day Golf Tournament, the
tournament's
name was changed to the Cotton States
Invitational in 1951 by the club's young head
professional, W. E. "Winnie" Cole. He felt that
the
name better reflected the main states that the
tournament's players originated from (and a
move
to
mid-summer made the name a necessity later
anyway). Little did Cole know that 27 years
later, in
1978, the event would be renamed again,
forever to
be known as the W. E. Cole Cotton States
Invitational Golf Tournament.
Past champions of this highly competitive, yet
festive
tournament include Don January and Hal
Sutton. Gil
Morgan, David
Toms and many other PGA Tour players have
also
competed. The tournament field field is limited
to 96
amateur
participants
having a verified USGA Handicap Index not
exceeding 0.0. Long a match play event, the
format was changed in 2021 to 72 holes of
stroke play.
View Complete Tournament Information