Some statistics, no matter what sport they pertain to, are worth a double take. For example, the last five All-Americans to come out of N.C . State’s men’s golf program are actually All-Foreign–Garth Mulroy and Justin Walters (South Africa), Jason Moon (Australia), Stephen Lewton (England), and Matt Hill (Canada) represent the best of the Pack’s past decade.
In 2010-2011, the international All-American trend showed signs of continuing as Canadians Mitch Sutton and Albin Choi earned Honorable Mention All-America honors. Sutton, now a junior starting to regain his form after a wrist injury, had a scoring average of 71.89 and was also an All-ACC selection. Choi , now a sophomore, was a unanimous choice for ACC Freshman of the Year after posting the fourth lowest scoring average in State’s history.
This season has been more difficult for a duo who grew up playing competitive junior golf against each other. Sutton was limited to just three rounds of golf in the fall following the injury and has not finished in the top-20 this season. Choi also has struggled at times despite six top-20 showings and his third individual title–but the talent and drive remains the same for both.
It’s about a two hour drive from Sutton’s hometown of London, Ontario to Choi’s hometown of Toronto, and no matter what success or struggles the pair go through, the close connection always seems to resonate.
“They were kind of a benchmark,” Choi said of Sutton and his other Canadian teammate, Graham Baillargeon . “Mitch was the Canadian Junior Champion and Graham was a Canadian Junior Champion as well. Just seeing them around and playing and seeing the scores they were posting–it was kind of a motivational factor for me to come up and play well.”
As much as the two want each other to succeed, there is also a strong desire to beat each other while on their personal drives.
“I’ve know Albin since we were 14 years old,” Sutton said. “We played a lot of golf together and we are really good buddies as well. Having him down here is great because we can practice together and push each other. It’s just good to have some people from home down here.”
Pushing each other to do well is certainly not something that is exclusive to their junior days prior to NCSU . All three of Choi’s individual collegiate titles have come in the state of North Carolina, which could bode very well for the team as they begin a stretch of three straight tournaments in its own backyard.
“Personally, I feel very comfortable in North Carolina,” Choi said. “I’ve played a lot of golf in the Carolinas, especially in Myrtle Beach and obviously in Raleigh. The next three tournaments are like home games, so we’re not being taken out of our environment. We all have that sense of comfortability since a lot of the guys are actually from here.”
The mix Choi references is how, apart from the three Canadians on the roster, the other eight players are all going to school in their home state. Two of those in-state players, freshmen Andrew Decker and James Chapman, have taken advantage of a combined 26 rounds of playing time.
“They’re both great players and they know how to step up when someone drops out of the lineup or something comes up,” Choi said. “We have a lot of seniors leaving this year, and I am pretty confident the freshmen will learn a lot and will be playing a lot more next year.”
“Those guys are definitely helping the team out a lot,” Sutton said. “A couple of the freshmen this year are redshirting , but the other ones who are playing have been helping out the team quite a bit. It’s been good for our team.”
Moving forward, both team leaders have different mindsets on how they each want to improve their own games. For both, confidence is the main key.
“[The wrist] has been 100 percent since I started playing tournaments,” Sutton said. “It’s obviously tough coming back from that just getting your confidence and your game back to where it needs to be. I’m working my way through it.”
As with most of the team, glimpses of success are promising–it’s consistency that is the crucial.
“We have our moments, and we all know we can play well,” Choi said. “Looking at this past week, we all played well at least two out of the three days. It’s just that one day where we didn’t perform very well that really got us.”
