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Saturday, July 1, 2000
Kim can’t match
Umemura in
HSWGA
championship
The University of Tennessee
By Bill Kwon
senior makes it two titles in
four years after her 5 and 4
win at the Oahu Country Club
Star-BulletinAnna Umemura won her second HSWGA match play championship in four years with a 5 and 4 victory over Bev Kim yesterday at the Oahu Country Club.
Umemura, who will be a senior at the University of Tennessee this fall, closed out the match on the par-4 14th hole when Kim conceded a tap-in par.
Despite leading throughout the match, Umemura said she never thought about winning "until the last ball is in the hole."
"These greens can be tricky. You've got to watch your back," she said.
Actually, it was Kim who was watching Umemura's back all morning.
"It's hard when you're 50 yards behind, " Kim said, referring to Umemura's decided length advantage off the tee. "Length still counts in golf."
"I was hitting the ball and putting much better today," said Umemura, who had gained the 18-hole final with a 1-up victory over Kathy Cho yesterday.
The 54-year-old Kim had advanced with a 3 and 2 victory yesterday over Desiree Ting, Cho's University of Hawaii golf teammate.
Only one more young whippersnapper had stood in the way of Kim's fourth HSWGA title.
But it was Umemura, the 1997 champion, who's coming off a disappointing junior season with the Volunteers.
"This summer I'm really dedicating myself to golf," said Umemura, who plans to play in three more local tournaments before returning to school.
In addition, she plans to qualify for the U.S. Women's Amateur in two weeks.
"I have one more year at Tennessee. I'd like to make a good year, a strong year."
Winning the HSWGA is a step toward that goal, according to Umemura.
She recorded four birdies in taking a 4-up lead over Kim at the turn.
Kim got one back with a par at the par-3 11th, when Umemura badly underclubbed her tee shot and bogeyed.
But Kim double-bogeyed the uphill par-4 12th, coming up short twice on her pitch shots.
"I forgot I was coming uphill," she said.
Kim also lost the par-5 13th when her third shot hit a tree to go five down with five holes to go.
At 14, Umemura was on in two. She lipped her 10-footer for birdie but par was good enough.
"She's a good player. Give her credit," said Kim, obviously tired from playing five days in a row.
"I don't know when's the last time I played five days in a row. It didn't help that my swing was really inconsistent today."
