UNCW's Khine Closes Collegiate Career on High Note
Miles McQuiggan
WILMINGTON, N.C. (May 26, 2023) – The collegiate career of UNCW women’s golfer
Phu Khine has seen its share of peaks and valleys.
The highs of CAA medalist honors as a freshman; the lows of injuries and missing out on two CAA Championships due to the CoVID pandemic.
For Khine, the time in teal concluded last month at a high point – atop the leaderboard of the PGA Works Collegiate Championship for the second time in three years.
“I had a great freshman year and sophomore year until CoVID hit,” said Khine. “Then to work my way back from injury with rehab and get back to this point, it was a great way to end my collegiate career. It was an opportunity to play in the PGA Works event; the win is a bonus for me.”
The 2019 CAA Rookie of the Year helped lead UNCW to a team title – by a commanding 17 strokes – with an individual crown of her own at the CAA Championship at St. James. Khine’s effort propelled the Seahawks to an NCAA Regional for the first time since 2012.
For Khine and UNCW, the opportunity for a repeat would be stymied not once but twice by a factor that upended the entire sports world.
Khine won two events in the 2019-20 season, including a title at the River Landing Classic on March 10, before the CoVID pandemic brought all college sports to a screeching halt and canceled the 2020 CAA Championship. The return to the conference tournament would have to wait yet another year for Khine and UNCW, as the Seahawks were forced to withdraw from the 2021 CAA Championship prior to the event due to CoVID protocols.
Khine would make the most of the Seahawks’ shortened 2021 spring with a trip to TPC Sawgrass for the PGA Works Collegiate Championship, an event featuring HBCU team competition and an individual tournament for minority collegiate golfers. Her 2-over 218 over 54 holes was good enough for medalist honors on the famed course and made her the first CAA golfer to collect the trophy since Towson’s Airielle Dawson in 2011.
UNCW made a return to St. James in April of 2022, three years removed from its last appearance in the CAA Championship. Khine, hampered by an injury she had battled throughout the year, still managed to finish 11
th, but the Seahawks placed third.
Khine’s last go-round at the CAA Championship this spring started strong, as she completed Friday in first thanks to an opening-round 69. She would tie for second at her final conference tournament – one of three Seahawks in the top 10.
It was not the last time Khine would wear a UNCW polo in competition, as she was invited – along with teammate
Hannah Altman and a total of 10 CAA golfers, including 2022 men’s champion
Sparky Ariychatvakin of Delaware – to Alabama for the 2023 PGA Works Collegiate Championship.
Khine stood fourth through 18 holes before a second-round 70 and a strong finish to her final day, following a birdie on 12 with par on each of the final six holes to win the title by one stroke on the Shoal Creek course. She became just the fifth multi-time winner of the women’s individual title since it was first awarded in 1999.
The tournament was also a display of talent for the CAA overall, as Altman placed fifth and Delaware’s
Christina Carroll was eighth on the women’s side, while Ariyachatvakin was second and Towson’s
Julian Gonzalez tied for sixth in the men’s individual competition.
The exposure in both years for UNCW and the conference – a PGA-sponsored event televised on Golf Channel – is something helping put CAA golf on the map in new places, even up against NCAA Regionals in the same week.
“[The 2021 event] opened my eyes to what an amazing opportunity this is to compete for our players,” said UNCW head coach
Cindy Ho. “We’re at dinner and watching Phu on TV. We’re watching players we know; players from Delaware we compete against. It’s amazing. For that exposure for Phu to be on those last three or four holes, it helps her, it helps our recruiting nationally and internationally, and it also gives our players something to compete in after the season.”
“Our goal is always to make it to NCAA Regionals,” added Ho. “But what a great opportunity for our players to play for another championship as well.”
Khine, degree in hand, will turn pro as 2023 goes on.
Entering a professional career after a successful graduate student, Phu Khine will look to ride the highs of this spring into the next stage of her time in golf.
Follow the CAA on
Facebook,
Twitter and
Instagram to get up-to-date information and learn more about the conference’s member institutions and their teams.