As the varsity girl’s golf team captain of two years and a disciplined student, Kristie Yang is the epitome of a successful student athlete. She stands out from her peers as she has a wide variety of accomplishments and extra-curricular activities in her high school career.
Yang’s golf career started ever since her sister influenced her. Yang started to play golf recreationally with her sister in middle school. After watching her sister excel with the Brahmas in the varsity team, Yang also decided to pursue golf in high school. Subsequently, Yang made the varsity team as a freshman. “Golf is a very time consuming sport,” Yang said. Although golf takes up the majority of her time, she still maintains a GPA of 3.6. She is also currently taking difficult AP courses such as Psychology and Calculus.
As a Brahma, Yang advanced to CIF her first three years in high school and will most likely qualify this year. She placed all-league 3rd, 2nd, and 4th in her freshman, sophomore, and junior years, respectively. “Whenever I’m competing against other players, I don’t focus as much on the opponents but I always try to beat myself with the high expectations I set for myself,” Yang commented. Yang does not really have any opponents, her goal is to defeat herself in every match. This unique mindset in competing with herself led her to beat many other opponents in default.
Yang has many accomplishments not only in school but also out of school. She competed in the LA County Championship twice, placing 4th in her sophomore year and winning 1st her junior year. She also took 2nd place at the Toyota Tour Cup in her junior year. Another out of school competition she competed in is the Junior Amateur Golf Scholars, in which she placed 3rd place once and 4th place twice.
Many colleges are interested in Yang’s exceptional abilities in golf. One such school is Southern Illinois University, to which she received a scholarship, “I feel complete because I got the scholarship,” Yang said. The scholarship was one of the main motivation and the reason she strives so hard in playing golf even though it drastically sacrifices time to do homework or rest. She credits her success to her sister, who paved the way for her as a golf player, and her grandfather, who gives her good advice.
In addition to golf, Yang also competes in beauty pageants. Yang still manages to fit in other activities such as competing in the Miss Teen Taiwan Pageant. This taught her crucial life techniques such as etiquette and confidence.
Being one of the elite golfers in Diamond Bar High School and of all the Hacienda League, she plans to compete at the collegiate level. She challenges herself with great determination, taking hard courses and maintaining an excellent grade point average while playing such a time consuming sport. “I want to be the best that I can possibly be.” Yang said. All in all, Kristie Yang sets the standards for future Brahma golfers.