Daily Journal Athlete of the Week: Crystal Springs' Edan Cui

Crystal Springs’ No. 1 boys’ golfer was staring down the green of the par-5 sixth hole at the Burlingame Country Club. He’d just floundered with his wedge, hitting his third stroke a mere 10 feet to leave it a few feet shy of the green, with a lie about 35 feet away from the hole.

“I tried to be cute with it,” Cui said.

So, the sophomore selected his putter and went to work with a no-nonsense approach. The result? Cui sank the long putt to make birdie.

“I ended up making it,” Cui said. “I hit it right on my line.”

It was one of many birdies Cui, the Daily Journal Athlete of the Week, scored on the day. He’d go on to claim medalist honors, tallying a 1-under 35 to lead Crystal to a team score of 188, earning two wins in the three-team dual meet over Sacred Heart Prep (211) and Menlo School (229).

And it was the first of two scores of 1-under he’d record on the week. The other came two days later with a 194-222 win over Menlo at Baylands Golf Links.

“He’s incredible,” Crystal head coach Brian Klemm said. “He’s league No. 1 right now. He’s under par for his differential. So, he just crushes it.”

It was a busy week for Cui, whose itinerary included his second of two rounds of match play Sunday, March 26 in the San Francisco City Golf Championships at TPC Harding Park. His performance in match play left something to be desired. But as Klemm said, just to advance to match play in a U.S. Junior Amateur event is a big deal for a high school sophomore just shy of his 16th birthday is a feather in his cap.

“Making it to match play as a 15-year-old is just insane,” Klemm said. “That’s an incredible achievement.”

And Cui turned things around quickly, fixing his swing by the next day for Crystal’s three-team dual the following day. This also happened to be Cui’s season debut with the Gryphons.

“Oh yeah, I felt a lot better on Monday,” Cui said. “My swing was a lot better.”

As a freshman last season, Cui earned Daily Journal Boys’ Golfer of the Year honors after taking second place at the state championships. He was a natural driver with a knack for getting plenty of air off the tee. His putting needed some work, though. And that’s what Cui focused on in the offseason, getting some serious instruction from PGA golfer, and private coach at TPC Sawgrass in Jacksonville, Florida — Mike Shannon.

During Klemm’s collegiate career at Kennesaw State University, Shannon was his private golf instructor. His lessons on putting are some of the top trending hits when you run a Google search on his name. And those lessons have improved Cui’s game nearly as quickly.

“I think speed control was a big thing,” Cui said. “Because last year I made enough putts, but it was the 3-putts that really cost me. And I think that has really changed for me overall.”

Through his first two rounds with Crystal this season, Cui didn’t 3-putt once. And his season-opening round in Burlingame — on a storm-beaten course marred by several fallen trees being removed in previous days — was the picture of putting consistency.

Crystal is in a good position to improve on last year’s run into the CIF Northern California championships. In Klemm’s first season at the helm, it was his goal to reach Nor Cals. Not only did the team deliver in this respect, Cui advanced individually to the state finals.

The Gryphons returned their entire roster from 2022, and have just one senior this season — KC Mungali — a San Jose State commit who ranks No. 2 in the West Bay Athletic League behind Cui.

“He’s a shark,” Klemm said. “A lot of intensity in a good way.”

And Klemm has big aspirations for his team this year.

“As far as our season goes, we’re going to have an extremely good season,” Klemm said. “Without injuries, we should do very well. We should do better than we did last season.”