Coloradan Schalk, former CU golfer Choi will be honored by Sportswomen of Colorado
By Gary Baines — 02/06/2019
A former and a future University of Colorado women’s golfer have earned the golf awards that will be handed out this year by the Sportswomen of Colorado.
When the Sportswomen hold their 45th annual awards celebration on March 10 at the Denver Marriott Tech Center, female athletes from a wide range of sports will be honored for 2018 performances, including two in the golf realm.
Hailey Schalk, who has verbally committed to play for CU beginning in the fall of 2020, earned the nod in the high school category. Schalk (pictured above) has won the 3A state high school individual title as both a freshman and a sophomore at Holy Family. In fact, she hasn’t been beaten in a high school tournament in which she’s competed. Schalk, now a junior, is bidding to become the first Colorado high school golfer — male or female — to win four state high school individual championships.
As it is, Schalk in 2018 became the eighth player to win at least two Colorado girls state high school titles, joining Lynn Ann Moretto (3), Ashley Tait (3), Jennifer Kupcho (2), Becca Huffer (2), Kelly Jacques (2), Jennifer McCormick (2) and Emily Wood (2). Schalk, the 2017 Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado Girls Player of the Year, won last year’s state high school title by six strokes. She later went on to capture her second consecutive Colorado Junior PGA Championship, one of the JGAC majors.
In being honored for the third time by the SOC, Schalk will go into the organization’s Hall of Fame.
Meanwhile, winning the college golf honor from the Sportswomen of Colorado was Robyn Choi, who spent 2 1/2 seasons as a CU golfer. Choi, who qualified in Colorado for the last two U.S. Women’s Opens, earned her LPGA Tour card in the fall by finishing 45th in the LPGA Q-Series and will begin her 2019 season this week at the ISPS Handa Vic Open in her native Australia.
Choi led CU in stroke average in the fall semester and also during her sophomore season, 2017-18, when her 72.69 sets a program record for a single season.
In all, 52 awards — and the Sportswoman of the Year honor — will be presented on March 10. The awards celebration will be emceed by Susie Wargin and Marcia Neville.