North Carolina State University Athletics
Choi is ACC's Top Freshman Golfer
5/9/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
May 9, 2011
GREENSBORO, N.C. – NC State's Albin Choi was named unanimously the 2011 Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Golf Freshman of the Year when the All-ACC team was announced on Monday by the conference office.
Choi and teammate and fellow Canadian Mitchell Sutton were voted on the 12-man All-ACC team for the first time, as selected by the league’s head coaches.
Additionally, Choi was a finalist for player of the year after leading the conference with a 71.03 scoring average. The Toronto native scored two victories in his first season with the Wolfpack. He also recorded a runner-up finish and had seven top-10 placements, and wound up out of the top 20 in just one of 11 tournaments.
Sutton, from London, Ontario, was about as good as Choi was this season in his sophomore campaign. He notched a 71.97 scoring average, good for the 11th lowest in the ACC. He won the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate in the spring for his first collegiate win. He has three top 10's and six top 20's to his credit this year.
Virginia’s Ben Kohles was named 2011 ACC Player of the Year, his second consecutive player of the year award after earning co-honors in 2010 with Florida State’s Brooks Koepka.
Led by automatic member Paul Haley, the individual medalist at the ACC Championship, Georgia Tech was represented on the All-ACC team by four players, marking just the sixth occasion that a team has placed four individuals on the All-ACC team.
Choi is the Wolfpack’s third freshman of the year, joining Mark Slawter (1993) and Tim Clark (1996).
Georgia Tech’s Bruce Heppler was named ACC Coach of the Year, his sixth such honor in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Yellow Jackets captured its third straight and 13th overall title at the ACC Championship in April with a record low score of 33-under 831.
The NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship participants will be announced this evening. No. 25 NC State will be sent to one of six regional sites that will be played May 19-21.
2011 All-ACC Men’s Golf Team
(Listed alphabetically by school)
Name, School
Brinson Paolini, Duke
Drew Kittleson, Florida State
Brooks Koepka, Florida State
John-Tyler Griffin, Georgia Tech
Paul Haley, Georgia Tech
Kyle Scott, Georgia Tech
James White, Georgia Tech
Albin Choi, NC State
Mitchell Sutton, NC State
Ben Kohles, Virginia
Evan Beck, Wake Forest
Lee Bedford, Wake Forest
ACC Player of the Year
Ben Kohles, Virginia
ACC Freshman of the Year
Albin Choi, NC State (unanimous)
ACC Coach of the Year
Bruce Heppler, Georgia Tech
