Our Participant, Erica, Shares Her Experience From the 2018 PURE Insurance Championship Impacting The First Tee

The First Tee of Silicon Valley is so proud of Erica Lam, our participant who competed in the 2018 PURE Insurance Championship Impacting The First Tee at Pebble Beach Golf Links and Poppy Hills Golf Course, September 24-30. Erica summarized her experience by saying, “I had a lot of fun playing at the PURE Insurance Championship. It was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity for me to play at such a prestigious course like Pebble Beach. The part I enjoyed most, however, was socializing and learning how to present myself in a more formal setting such as the strolling dinners. At first it was kind of hard, because I’ve never done anything like this before and it was not in my comfort zone, but everyone was really friendly and eventually I started to get the hang of it and not be so intimidated anymore. It was such a good learning opportunity for me because there are not many other places where I will be able to interact with adults like this and I know that I will definitely be needing these skills in the future!” The PURE Insurance Championship is the only event of its kind in which 81 junior golfers from The First Tee are teamed with 81 PGA TOUR Champions players and 162 amateurs during an official PGA TOUR Champions tournament. They were selected by a national panel of judges based on their playing ability and their application of the Nine Core Values and Life Skills learned through their involvement with The First Tee’s programs. TFTSV Coach Matt & Coach Chris verified Erica’s development over her 9 years in our program. They said, “Erica most notable growth has been her interpersonal communication skills. First Tee mentoring has taught her to speak with a confident delivery, making eye contact. Erica has learned to dictate her perseverance through her own belief to ‘Just push, because I’ve done it in the past and I can do it again!’.  She is very professional in her mannerisms and her thoughtful responses. Erica understands The First Tee curriculum well and we knew she would be a great TFTSV representative.”