On October 10,2022, Alina Ho got ready for the day in hopes to bring home a 7th consecutive state title with the rest of the Langley team. Being a junior on the team, Alina has played on the States team for two years and hopes to be playing again next year. As the day came closer, Alina had felt more aware of her impact on the team.

As States approached, Coach Al Berg was nervous about the condition of the team, “I always worry about a one day tournament, much less so if it were two days. This particular course, while fair, was very difficult for a team to distance themselves. I thought it would be close.”

Throughout the season, Alina posted scores that made new records for Langley. The Langley team dominated at Districts by almost 19 shots, with Chase Nevins’ shooting 69 and Alina shooting 67.

But even with Berg’s strong team, he was worried that Langley wouldn’t be able to win for the 7th time. Although Districts and Regionals both were two day events, VHSL decided States would be a one day event. But Coach Berg was hopeful that with Alina they could win again.

“I did feel pressure but because our team this year was pretty solid, I knew that as long as I could shoot a decent score, we should have a very good chance of winning the state championship again,” junior Alina Ho said. 

Going into the morning of States, Alina was focused and ready to take it one shot at a time. Alina wanted to have fun, but also she wanted to try her best and be able to help win the championship. Over the season, she played with many different students from different schools but this year, she played with Trevor McAndrews, a senior at Yorktown HS. 

“I was excited when I found out I was going to play with Alina. I was attracted to her because there was so much hype around her name from so many different teams and tournaments”  the senior at Yorktown said. 

At States, Alina shot 34/33 throughout her round. On the front 9, she got birdie’s on three out of the last 4 holes making her able to win states all together.

“I knew from the beginning that she had a chance of winning, but after holes 13-14, I [definitely] knew it was going to happen,” McAndrews said.

 With UVA commit Josh Duangamee, last year’s champion, coming into the clubhouse with a score of one under par(70), Alina didn’t think she had a chance of winning at all.  But her impressive score of three under par(67) allowed her to take the entire competition. 

“I was very surprised when I found out I won the state individually because of how competitive the field was.  I was very happy with my result and contribution to the overall team’s success” Ho said.

With her win, she qualified for the State team and was named a State Champion. Alina hopes that she can pull off a win again next year.

“Going into the tournament I was not expecting to win individually. It was more of posting a good score that could possibly help our team win our 7th state title.  My focus was only for the team and not myself,” Ho said.

Since 2018, Alina has been playing and each year has shaved 9 strokes off of her game, which is extremely difficult and impressive.  Her hard work clearly showed through the season this year. 

“I love golf because of the pressure and how I can meet new people around the world,” junior Alina Ho said. “I have also seen myself improving year over year and it feels like a sense of accomplishment for me.”

In the future, Alina hopes to attend college to further her academic and golf career. “I think my golf game in the future will continue to get better. I also would like to play golf in college to continue my golf and academic career,” Ho said. Alina is excited to try something new and is excited to play for Langley one last time next year.

“The first time I saw Alina she was playing in a junior tournament before entering Langley. I saw one swing and thought she had the potential to be an elite player” Coach Al Berg said.  Clearly he knew.