Archmere golfer Phoebe Brinker blazes new path for female golfers, like aunt before her
WILMINGTON, Del. (BVM) — Phoebe Brinker knows what it’s like to be at the top of her game. The Archmere Academy golfer has been on the golf course since she was little, swinging the golf club as far back as she can remember.
“My whole family plays (golf). I’ve just been doing it as long as I can remember,” Brinker said. “There’s pictures of me when I was like 5 swinging on the range in a swimsuit so I started pretty early.”
As one of the best golfers in the state of Delaware for many years, Brinker’s accomplishments have been highlighted by a historic prep career. Her prep dominance began a little earlier than normal as the then eighth grade golfer for Tower Hill in 2016 won her first Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association high school golf state championship. The win wasn’t only significant for Brinker or her team, but for golf in the state of Delaware as well.
The DIAA golf state championship is unique in the fact that it’s a coed competition with boys and girls competing at the same time. With her 2016 victory, Brinker became not only the youngest champion in state history, but also the first female to win the title. The achievement is a special one for Brinker as well.
“It was such an exciting moment, just winning alone was so exciting and then to find out about all the other honors or accolades that went along with it was so cool,” Brinker said. “I found out first that I was the youngest and I kind of assumed that because not a lot of eighth graders are even allowed to play so that alone was cool. But I was even more honored by being the first girl to win.”
For Brinker, it was more than just winning one for her school, it was winning one for the girls.
“Golf is pretty male dominated for sure,” Brinker said. “I was lucky that year. I had another girl on my team so that definitely made me feel a bit more comfortable, but the whole time I was surrounded by older boys basically. So it was a cool accomplishment.”
This isn’t the only time a member of Brinker’s family has had an impact on the sport of golf.
Brinker’s aunt is none other than Suzy Whaley. Whaley, a longtime PGA instructor who in 2019 was recognized as one of GOLF Magazine’s Top 100 Teachers in America, is revered for her contributions to the sport. In 2003, Whaley, a LPGA Tour member in 1990 and 1993 and long time player, qualified and participated in the Greater Hartford Open, where she became the first woman since Babe Zaharias in 1945 to qualify for a PGA Tour event.
Whaley’s contribution to equal representation in the sport wouldn’t end with that event. In 2018, Whaley became the first female president of the PGA of America in the organization’s 102-year history after serving two years as PGA Secretary and two years as Vice President. Also in 2018, Whaley became the 370th PGA professional (and only the ninth woman ever) to be certified as a PGA Master Professional, the highest educational level offered by the organization.
Brinker learned many lessons from her aunt who helped to teach her the ins and outs of the game. Using Whaley as both a coach and an aunt has been nothing short of amazing for the young golfer.
“It’s just the best thing ever,” Brinker said. “She has taught me forever. I was with her the first time I swung a golf club. She’s been my coach forever. … She’s just taught me so much and I am so appreciative of everything she’s taught me because without that there’s no way I’d be able to win three state tournaments.”
The similarities between the two women’s careers don’t go unnoticed by Brinker either.
“It’s kind of freaky,” Brinker said with a laugh, “But I think it shows how much she taught me. Just seeing her do that in a way inspired me. I knew if she could compete against tour pros, I could compete against kids in high school who are four years older than me who are boys. I can keep up with them just like she could, that was a pretty good lesson for me.”
With her first state championship, Brinker said the win helped her not only to establish herself in the state, but to take her game to the next level.
“That win gave me so much more confidence in golf in general and kind of in life in general too,” Brinker said. “Having that win made me feel more comfortable playing against older competitors and that was a pretty important lesson for me to learn.”
The 2016 victory would only be the start of her incredible prep career as after a runnerup finish in 2017, Brinker won back-to-back state titles as a member of Archmere in both 2018 and 2019. Brinker, who typically plays individual matches outside of school, credits the team aspect of the sport in helping her to remain consistent over her high school career.
“I think I really thrive under the team environment because I play so much individually the rest of the summer and pretty much every other tournament is individual so the team atmosphere is really cool. Representing a school is pretty cool,” Brinker said.
Along with her prep career dominance, Brinker has also had a strong career as a member of the American Junior Golf Association where she currently ranks as the sixth best in the country through five events this year.
In 2019, Brinker was named to the Rolex Junior Girls All-American first team thanks to her performance during the season. One such performance was where she finished tied for 13th in the final round of the girls Junior PGA Championship and included a runner up finish in the Justin Thomas Junior Championship and third place in the Rolex Girls Junior Championship. For Brinker, the most rewarding moment of the year was representing the United States at the Junior Solheim Cup in Scotland where she helped the team win.
“That was a very cool experience for me,” Brinker said. “I had never really traveled abroad in general and just to play golf abroad and represent the United States was just so cool. Being with a great group of girls and we won. It was just a culmination of everything I’ve done in the past just to get me to that one tournament so I just saw all my hard work pay off.”
With the 2020 season now over with the state canceling spring sports due to COVID-19, Delaware has seen the last of Brinker’s dominance on the golf course, but this won’t be the end of her journey. Brinker is committed to continuing her golf career at Duke University beginning in the fall where she wants to help the team and hopes to win a national championship.
When Brinker got on campus at Duke, she loved the school, even though her aunt Suzy and her cousin Kelly, both University of North Carolina golf alumni, had her leaning towards that school early in her life.
“I loved Duke from the moment I stepped on campus,” Brinker said. “It’s funny because Suzy and my other cousin Kelly both played at UNC so my whole life I kind of wanted to go to UNC because they were such good role models for me and I always looked up to them and wanted to be as good as them and I ended up choosing Duke. I just loved the school atmosphere. School is pretty important to me and that balance with golf as well, I thought it was the perfect fit for me.”
Although her prep career didn’t end the way she had hoped, Brinker will always be able to look back at how she changed the game of girls golf in Delaware forever, much like how her aunt Suzy did for women in the pros years before.
“Just being a leader is so important and (Whaley) definitely taught me that,” Brinker said. “I have noticed it. There are other girls in the area now that are playing a lot more and I hope I am a good leader for them.”
