Esther Choe and Richard Lee were born to play golf.

Such a simple statement might be the best way to understand why the East Valley teens recently announced they will forego high school in Lee’s case, and college in Choe’s, in order to play professional golf.

For Lee, a 16-year-old who last fall captured the Class 5-A Division 1 individual golf title for Hamilton High School in Chandler, the pending leap into the play-for-pay ranks will be dramatic. Even though he can’t qualify to play regularly on the PGA or Nationwide tours until he is 18, Lee plans to pre-qualify and then Monday qualify (if his scores are good enough) to compete on those tours on a week-by-week basis.

“I’m going to turn pro at the end of the year, for sure, and maybe sooner if I qualify for the U.S. Open,’’ said Lee, who is exempt into next week’s sectional qualifying for the national championship by virtue of his runner-up finish last summer in the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship.

“College has no appeal for me. I’m just not into school. People say it’s the most fun time of your life, but if that’s true, how can you be serious about your golf if you’re always having fun?’’

For Choe, a 17-year-old senior at Cactus Shadows High School in Cave Creek, her decision is similar to what LPGA star Morgan Pressel did two years ago, when she backed out of a college scholarship to Florida and went to LPGA Qualifying School, eventually earning full-time status. Choe had been expected to follow in the footsteps of Annika Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa at the University of Arizona, but told UA coach Greg Allen earlier this month that she giving up being a Wildcat to pursue her dreams on the LPGA.

“I know that I’ll be missing out on the fun things that go with college, but the LPGA is where I want to be,’’ said Choe, who captured the Class 4-A individual title in 2005 with a record score (15 under par), and already has played in two LPGA events, where she made the cut, and qualified for two U.S. Opens, where she failed to advance.

“But I feel like I’m ready for the move, and I felt like I had to do it now.’’

Choe said that her decision was “partly’’ based on family financial considerations, not wishing to elaborate. Lee, who is being home-schooled but still gets to compete for Hamilton High, said he was “bored’ with amateur golf.

While many observers/parents feel such risky ventures into the dog-eat-dog world of professional golf are not in the best interests of the kids involved, others say, “Let them play.’’ But for every Michelle Wie who seems to be destined for stardom on the LPGA, there is a Ty Tryon, the Florida teen-ager who qualified and played briefly on the PGA Tour in 2002 before disappearing from the scene.

Golf’s great debate -- to go pro, or not to go pro -- is a double-edged sword say instructors Jim Flick and Kent Chase, who coach Choe and Lee, respectively.

“I would never be the one to recommend such a big jump at such a young age. That’s a family matter,’’ Chase said of Lee’s decision. “But Richard is such a talent that, if anybody could play professional golf at age 16, he could.

“I know that he has no interest in school, and I didn’t have any interest in school at that age, either. But like most parents, my dad made me go.’’

Flick’s response to Choe’s choice was much the same, although he added this twist.

“Esther has a better chance of making it than Richard Lee simply because girls mature, physically, faster than boys. Just look at Michelle Wie, Paula Creamer and Morgan Pressel, and before them players like Michelle McGann, Cristie Kerr and Christina Kim,’’ Flick pointed out. “All of those girls skipped college and have done remarkably well on the LPGA.

“It’s much harder for the boys on the PGA Tour. You’ve got the sad story of Ty Tryon, and outside of Sean O’Hair whose had some success, and Justin Rose, who took forever after making a big splash at the (1998) British Open, I can’t think of any other young guy who has made that jump lately.’’

As Choe’s coach, Flick said it’s not his business to help her decide what moves to make career-wise, only to help get her get to the next level.

“Esther needs a little more distance (off the tee), and maybe a little more confidence,’’ he said. “How quick that comes will tell the tale, but as I told her, ‘The decision has been made. Now let’s figure out how we can get there.’ ’’

If there is a variable beyond talent, it’s hard work. In that regard, both Lee and Choe have a cultural advantage, Chase added.

“The Koreans are grinders, and their objective is to outwork everybody else. They think Americans are fat and lazy,’’ noted Chase, who has 40 Koreans including U.S. Women’s Amateur champ Kimberly Kim of Queen Creek among his more than 400 students at his Phoenix-based academy.

“And while Americans are expected to go to college, Koreans focus more on what they want and where they want to go. It’s like, ‘Let’s get it on!’ ’’

That cultural difference is true and false, said Dr. Hygeweol Choi, who heads the Korean Studies Department at Arizona State.

“College is very, very important to Koreans, in some cases it’s like life and death itself,’’ Choi observed. “But golfers are in a special category, like baseball players and other athletes, and when they (skip) college to play golf, it’s very accepted in Korean society.’’

Choi said that for the better players, going to college might even be viewed as “a detour.’’ But mostly it’s a decision that affects the entire family.

“If Richard Lee and Esther Choe become very successful as golfers, their whole family will take special pride in that,’’ Choi said. “So golf remains the focus of their life, not college.’’

Exactly, said Lee’s father, Jeff, who as a member of the Korean PGA placed a golf club in his son’s hands when he was just a baby.

“Richard started playing when he was one (years old), and he was so talented at it that eventually we moved here from Canada, so he could play year-round and work with Kent Chase,’’ said Jeff Lee. “He still has a lot of things to learn, but we’re not in a rush.

“The plan is for Richard to travel with me, but when he plays, he’s on his own.’’

What makes Lee and Choe so unique is that they are the first junior players from Arizona to skip college for the pro ranks. By comparison, Scottsdale’s Amanda Blumenherst had just as much game when she enrolled at Duke two years ago and became the NCAA player of the year. The same with Scottsdale’s Philip Francis, the UCLA-bound recruit who was the player who defeated Lee last summer in that U.S. Junior Amateur final.

“They’re two of my best friends, and they’re both super-talented,’’ said Francis, who like Choe was the 2006 American Junior Golf Association’s player of the year. “It takes a lot of (fortitude) to do what they’re doing, and I wish them all the luck in the world.

“But for me, UCLA just seemed like a more logical step in my career, whether I go two years or four years. I just wanted to try it, so in case things didn’t work out in the future I had something I could fall back on.’’

How Lee and Choe fare remains to be seen, as early results have been mixed. Lee said he will keep playing in pre-qualifiers and Monday qualifiers, as you have to do one (pre-qualifying) in order to do the other (Monday qualify) unless you are a card-carrying member of the PGA Tour.

Last week, Lee played in the Thunderbird International at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, where he finished sixth, five shots behind the winning score. He also attempted unsuccessfully to Monday qualify for the FBR Open earlier this year and had the same luck at the recent AT&T Classic in Atlanta.

“I know I haven’t done it yet, but I’ll keep Monday qualifying until I do get through and make some money,’’ Lee said of his quest. “There are no other plans, like playing on the Gateway Tour, and I’m done with junior golf after last weekend.’’

Choe also played in Thunderbird International, where she finished in 11 th place, 16 shots behind Kim’s record score. Asked when and how she plans to make her impact in pro golf, Choe said, “I’ll do whatever it takes.’’

“If I can qualify for the LPGA, that’s where I’ll play,’’ she said. “But if it doesn’t work out, then I’ll play on the Futures Tour.

“My plans are to turn pro after the U.S. Women’s Amateur, which comes the same week as my 18 th birthday (Aug. 7), and then I’ll probably play in some Futures Tour events as a warm-up prior to (LPGA Q-School).’’

Actually, Choe already is making that happen. She is competing this week as an amateur in the Futures Tour event in Lake Geneva, Wis. In other words, the future is now.