MY thoughts were going to be about golf all this week. After all, it's the week of the Masters. But Pam Kometani's near-victory in the Longs Drugs Challenge in California had grabbed my attention 48 hours earlier. Kometani was almost
queen for a dayKometani lost in a two-hole playoff to Annika Sorenstam in what has to be the most improbable finish on the LPGA Tour this season.
Improbable because, going into the tournament:
<img src="bu.gif"> Sorenstam was the tour's leading money winner with $326,551 and Kometani was 156th with $629. Career earnings? Anika was also slightly ahead, $1.9 million to $14,169.
<img src="bu.gif"> Sorenstam had won eight events, including back-to-back U.S. Women's Open victories, and Kometani had never finished higher than 27th.
Yet, here they were, tied after 72 holes at 3-under-par 285. Kometani, who made the cut despite shooting a 77 in the second round, simply refused to go away, as did Jan Stephenson and Juli Inkster, who have 31 career victories between them.
Sorenstam won on the second playoff hole with a par as Kometani bogeyed. A combination of less wind from the first go-around and "a little adrenaline" led to her overshooting the green on her approach shot.
Not winning was disappointing, but Kometani was simply ecstatic about her second-place finish and $46,546 paycheck -- which quadrupled her career earnings.
"Unbelievable. I'm still stoked," said Kometani, 32, the former University of Hawaii golfer. She always knew she could compete on the LPGA Tour. Now, there's something in her portfolio to show that she can.
STILL, she's a realist. As a nonexempt player, Kometani can probably play only around 20 events this season without having to qualify on Mondays.
So she hasn't quit her day job. Her employer is the Pearl Country Club, which runs Golf House, where she is back at work today. She'll play in the next LPGA event in two weeks at Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Pearl Country Club doesn't only employ her, it sponsors her on the tour as well. For Kometani, Pearl's a real gem. The golf course, where she's a salaried assistant pro, pays her expenses and lets her take time-off to fit her tournament schedule.
"Pearl is wonderful. I probably have the best deal anywhere," says Kometani. When she tells her LPGA peers about her working relationship, they're envious and tell her, "God. Is there another golf course in Hawaii I can call?"
Kometani, a 1983 Punahou School graduate, didn't take golf seriously until she met the late Guinea Kop. That was back in 1986 after she had transferred home from USC.
"Until I met him, I was never interested in golf. But he just had this passion for the game," Kometani said.
GUINEA continued to encourage Kometani even when she didn't fare well in local tournaments. "This is not your time," he told her.
"When I made my decision to turn pro, I talked to him," Kometani said. "He said if I'm not willing to eat, sleep and drink golf, and sleep with my with putter, don't do it. But he didn't discourage me."
After playing 19 LPGA events in 1992, Kometani lost her playing card. In 1995 she went to the Q-School again and could only qualify for the nonexempt status. It was another year of not meeting expenses. So it was back to Q-School last year, and another conditional status.
This time, though, thanks to her showing Sunday, she should comfortably gain an exempt status for 1998 by finishing among the top 125 money winners, considering $30,056 was good for No. 125 last year.
"That's a good feeling," said Kometani, whose time, perhaps, has finally come.