Ester Choe and Phillip Francis, Great Junior Champions

Phillip Francis

In 2007 Phillip Francis and Ester Choe were the top rated junior boy and girl golfers in the country. Both of their families were members of Desert Mountain Golf Club. It might be the only time in history where the two top junior players were at the same club. Like so many others they appeared to be headed for stardom on the PGA and LPGA tours. It didn’t happen. What are the reasons they and all the rest of the budding superstars don’t end up along side Jordan Spieth and the Korda sisters on their respective tours?

There are almost as many reasons great young players do not end up as successful tour players as there are players. Seemingly, most college golfers aspire to be on television on Sunday afternoon. Sadly for them only a small number are successful. With those few there was some predictability because they had great amateur or collegiate careers.  Thus the main reason most don’t make it is there are others who are just better.

There are exceptions, Zack Johnson, a late bloomer, being the obvious example. However, when watching an unknown player battle it out on Sunday afternoon in a tour event, their record will probably show they were a great amateur player. Maybe they won the national amateur, NCAA or collegiate titles. Few players move from obscurity in amateur ranks to becoming successful tour players. 

There are many reasons great players don’t become long time successful tour players. For some it is injury, others do not like being away from home or all the travel. Others fall victim to the party life in college or later. Several of the greatest players I have seen failed because of alcohol.

I first met Phillip Francis in Minneapolis in 2001. Tom Lehman, Jim Lehman and I started a Monday pro-am event in Minneapolis called the Dayton’s Challenge. Jim Flick, then Tom’s coach, flew to Minneapolis and brought 12 year old Phillip along.  In a closest to the pin event, Phillip hit shots to a par three with each of the players in the pro-am. There was only one player who hit it closer than Phillip the entire day. He was that good. 

While in high school Phillip qualified for the Phoenix Open PGA tour event through Monday qualifying by shooting 62. In 2006 he won the USGA Junior Amateur. Phillip was the number one ranked junior golfer in 2007. He was invited to play in several PGA tour events including the 2008 John Deere Classic where he made the cut. 

Rory McIlroy, the number one junior player in Europe at the time, was asked if there was anybody he could not beat. He reportedly responded, “Yes, Phillip Francis.” 

Phillip went to UCLA and played on a national championship team as a freshman. However, “I started losing some passion for the game in college,” he said. “I started to become very technical with my golf swing and that led me down a dark path of not enjoying the same game I grew up loving.” At the time he had moved away from Jim Flick as his coach.

After two years at UCLA he transferred back to Arizona State where he played on the team and graduated.

“I started having back problems while making swing changes. I couldn’t bend past my knees for nine months,” he said.

Phillip played various tours around the world until 2015 when “I gave myself an ultimatum to get through Q School (the PGA Tour Qualifying tournament), or I would be done.” He missed by one shot.

A friend who caddied for him in his final event said that off the course they talked about the financial world, not golf. He had lost interest.

In the 10 years Phillip worked with Jim Flick he developed a close relationship with him. “I never talked to Jim about leaving golf. However, he taught me there is lot more to life than chasing a white ball being hit around a golf course. I think because of that I was able to transition into something completely foreign very efficiently and easily.”

Phillip moved to Chicago and entered the world of finance. Several years ago he started working in virtual currency, Bitcoin. It has worked out well for him. Recently married, he splits his time between Miami and Desert Mountain. 

“I would love to potentially play some higher level of amateur golf again,” he confessed. “I miss the competitive nature of being in the heat of the moment.”  

Phillip Francis has a bright future ahead with whatever he chooses to do. He learned that there is more to life than golf. He is content with who he is and where he is.

Phillip lost the burning desire for the game. The successful tour players really love the game, love to practice, love to play in competition.

In the middle of her sophomore year in high school Ester Choe’s parents moved to Scottsdale from LaQuinta, CA. She had been a student of Jim Flick’s from California. By the end of her sophomore year she was the number one ranked junior girl in the country. 

At age 15 she qualified for the LPGA tournament in Phoenix, was given an exemption into the Kraft - Nabisco LPGA tournament in Palm Springs, and qualified for the US Open. 

“The US Open was at Cherry Hills,” said Ester. “I went into the pro shop to sign up for a practice round and saw that Anika Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa’s group was not filled out. People must have been afraid to play with them. I wanted to play with the best so I signed into their group. It was a great thrill for a 15 year old.” Unfortunately she missed the cut. 

Upon graduating from high school she was offered a scholarship to Stanford. “At the time in the Korean society children didn’t leave the family and go off to college on their own. My parents didn’t know how to guide me.”

Ester felt pressure to turn professional. “It was contentious but only in my head,” she said.

In 2012 Ester played the Futures Tour and earned LPGA Tour status. “I played all over the world and had all the experiences. I was a combination of being a perfectionist and too hard on myself,” she said. “I was not good mentally. It caused horrible swings in playing. I learned that I wasn’t cut out for the tour life.”

“I decided that I wanted to see what else I could do outside of golf.” 

Ester went back to college at ASU graduating with a degree in global studies. 

Several years ago former LPGA Tour star Betsy King started a non profit called Golf Fore Africa. “She took me to Africa. It was an eye opening experience,” she said. The organization raises money to fund clean water projects in Zambia and Rwanda.

Ester subsequently accepted a position with the organization as a event coordinator. Now 31 years old Ester rarely plays golf. She was recently married.

Like Phillip Francis, Ester Choe has moved on from golf and is very happy. So what happens to young potential PGA and LPGA tour stars? They find there is a lot more to life than golf and embrace it. 

It’s the rarest of individuals that have the talent, drive, self discipline, and mental make up to be a successful tour player in A Life In Golf.