Pepperdine's Kylee Choi wins Women's Western Amateur
By McKenzie Jackson · Fri Jul 31 2026
After fine-tuning her game just weeks before the tournament, the Waves standout defeated a world-class field of 120 golfers
Pepperdine Waves women’s golfer Kylee Choi was struggling with her golf swing earlier this summer, so she hit the course with her swing coach, Zach Allen.
“I was just trying to get my swing dialed in, get my short game in, and just trying to feel as confident as I could,” Choi recalled.
The 19-year-old golfer’s game was definitely dialed in the next week as she completed two rounds of stroke play before advancing through match play to win the 126th annual Women’s Western Amateur at River Forest Country Club in Elmhurst, Illinois, on July 11.
Choi described outlasting 120 other top amateur golfers from around the globe to win the renowned golf tournament as an “insane” feeling.
“It didn’t hit me at all after it happened,” she said. “It meant a lot to me to be able to win such a big and prestigious event. It was very emotional for me.”
“I was smiling and laughing,” Choi added.
Choi, named the West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year in April, recalled remaining calm and having fun with her caddie throughout the six-day event.
“In golf, you never know what can happen,” she said. “So much can change in even just one hole.”
However, Choi admitted she was at the top of her game.
“Throughout the week, I think this is the best my game has ever been,” she explained. “I was hitting almost every fairway, hitting almost every green. Most of the putts I needed or wanted to go in, would roll in.”
She finished the 36-hole stroke play qualifier as a co-medalist with Oregon State’s Raya Nakao and Australian Rachel Lee. Choi closed with a bogey-free 68, hitting 17 greens with no three-putts all week.
In match play, Choi advanced out of the round of 32 with a 2 & 1 win over Emilia Doran from North Carolina. She then downed Alabama’s Alli Wiertel 4 & 2 in round 16.
Choi enjoys playing match play because she can compete with more aggression.
“Match play goes in my favor because even if I mess up a hole, I only lose one hole whereas in stroke play every stroke counts,” she said. “Match play allows me to be as aggressive as I want to be.”
Choi beat Stanford’s Anna Song 3 & 2 in the quarterfinals. She then knocked off Kentucky’s Cathryn Brown 1 up in the semifinals to advance to the championship against Grace Lee, who had a stellar college golf career at Gonzaga.
Choi’s run in the 2025 Women’s Western Amateur ended in the quarterfinals. Her defeat of Brown was the first time she ever advanced to the final of any tournament.
Choi beat Lee 2 & 1 in the championship match.
She won the eighth and ninth holes, building a 2-up advantage after the first seven holes were halved. Choi had an opportunity to extend the lead to three with three holes remaining, but Lee chipped in from in front of the 15th green to save par and keep the deficit at two.
Lee won the par-3 16th to cut the lead to one entering the par-5 17th. Both players reached the green in regulation and faced birdie putts from nearly identical positions. Lee's attempt slid right, setting the stage for Choi, who calmly went through her routine before rolling in the winning birdie to close out the championship.
Choi cried when she sank the putt.
“It was a roller coaster of emotions,” she admitted.
Then, Choi FaceTimed her mother, Jackie Choi, who was at home folding laundry.
Choi claimed the W.A. Alexander Trophy as the winner of the Women’s Western Amateur. She was also awarded an exemption to the U.S. Women’s Amateur at The Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tennessee.
Choi has a litany of top finishes at amateur tournaments in recent years. Although Choi had six top-five finishes during her first season with the Waves, her Western Amateur victory was the first tournament title of her career.
Choi played in a tournament in Arizona in June, and wasn’t happy with her performance. That led to her week of practice with Allen, the swing coach.
Choi, a Murrieta native, learned how to ski a couple of years before she learned how to golf and swim when she was 6.Her mom and dad, Johnny Choi, enrolled Kylee in golf lessons in an attempt to slow down her hyperactive tendencies.
“It kind of did,” Kylee remembered. “On the golf course, I became a lot calmer, but then the second I was off the golf course I went back to my normal self. I don’t think my parents knew I was going to fall in love with the sport.”
When Choi was seven she told her parents she was going to play on the LPGA Tour one day. In the following years, Choi’s game trended in that direction.
She set the course record at 5-under at Pronghorn Resort in 2020 and played in the U.S. Women’s Open and won two Cactus Tour events two years later. In 2023, Choi finished fifth in the PGA Junior Championship and second in the AJGA K.J. Choi Foundation Junior Championship. Choi had third-place performances in the 2024 Women’s North and South Amateur at Pinehurst, the R&A British Girls Amateur, and the AJGA Mizuno West Coast Classic.
Choi, a self-described composed golfer, said she had a great freshman season with Pepperdine, but said she was in a slump at the start of the year. She placed 30th in her first tournament, the ANNIKA Intercollegiate.
“I knew I could have done better,” Choi said. “I had expectations for myself. Coming into Pepperdine, I wanted to be Freshman of the Year.”
She bounced back and finished third, shooting 11-under, at the Red Sky Classic. Choi shot a personal best 7-under in the final round.
“That put so much confidence in me, knowing I could still play really well,” she said. “That continued that momentum for the rest of the fall and spring season.”
Choi recorded five other top-five finishes as Pepperdine advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals.
She finished with a 71.79 scoring average and was the second-highest-ranked freshman — number 33 — in the final differential rankings. Choi also earned All-WCC first-team honors, was named a Women's Golf Coaches Association All-American Honorable Mention and earned a spot on the WGCA All-Freshman Team.
She is preparing for the U.S. Women’s Amateur, which is Aug. 4–9.
“I’m practicing and trying to keep the same shots, swing, and feel dialed in,” Choi said. “That allows me to be more confident walking into the U.S. Women’s Am. It’s a very, very big tournament. I feel very good about it. I’m more than capable of playing extremely well.”
Her sophomore campaign begins in September. Choi wants to win a tournament as an individual and increase her World Amateur Golf ranking this season.
“I feel really good,” she said. “I feel really confident in my game.”