Whiting pilots Waiakea
to huge lead at state golf

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By Nick Abramo
nabramo@starbulletin.com

Hawaii's top high school female golfers were almost as steady yesterday as the numerous commercial and military jets flying overhead at the Hawaii Prince Course in Ewa Beach.

Waiakea's Leah Whiting and Kamehameha's Mari Chun glided to the softest of landings in the first round of the 2002 David Ishii Girls State Golf Championships.

Whiting and Chun jetted to 2-over-par 74s and head into today's final round with a two-shot lead over Waiakea's Amanda Wilson, the Big Island Interscholastic Federation individual champion, and Hilo's Kristen Higa.

Several others are buzzing around near the lead, including Kauai Interscholastic Federation individual champion Lehua Wise, Moanalua's Ayumi Hori and Punahou's Lindsay Hong, all of whom shot 77s.

King Kekaulike's Lisa Kajihara, the Maui Interscholastic Federation individual champ, shot a 78 and is in striking distance. St. Anthony's Dale Gammie, Waiakea's Kellie Kawahara and Baldwin's Kelly Nakashima, all with 79s, were the only others to break 80.

Waiakea has all but wrapped up the team title. The Warriors enjoy a 13-stroke lead, 229 to 242, over Hilo. Baldwin is one shot behind the Vikings.

"It's still anybody's tournament," Waiakea coach Lance Taketa said. "It's not won on the first day, and our girls know that they need to put together two good rounds.

The golfers hit from the orange (men's) tees on the B and C courses, so the distances were longer than usual.

"I'm happy with what they did (in the first round)," Taketa added. "It was definitely not a short course, and when the wind kicked up, they had to make really solid shots. As long as they play to their abilities -- win, lose or draw -- I'll be happy with that."

Chun, the Interscholastic League of Honolulu individual champion, made 13 pars and two birdies, and she had two Hawaii Prince water adventure park forays -- one for a double bogey on the first hole and another on the ninth for a bogey -- to wind up with a front-nine 38 on the C course. On her final hole of the day, the B course ninth, she made a bad chip and two-putted for bogey.

"What I'm working on now is to stay in the present moment," Chun said. "And it's working pretty good, because I didn't focus on results."

Whiting was 2-under at the turn after chipping in for birdie on the fifth and tapping in for the bird on the sixth.

She fell to even-par after a double bogey on the 10th (B course first) and didn't run into trouble again until the bogeyman haunted her on the final two holes. On the 17th, Whiting took a stroke penalty after landing in some bushes, and on the 18th, she hit a bad second shot, but recovered nicely to avoid a double bogey.

"I'm pretty excited," Whiting said. "And just want to keep it up; hopefully I can pull it off, but good luck to everybody else."

Wilson, who was 1-under after nine, wouldn't mind if she could play the 10th hole over again to wipe out a bruising triple bogey. She drove into the rough, and on her second shot, she hooked the ball into the bushes --and long gone for a 2-shot penalty. She had two more bogeys on the back nine.

Wilson's only birdie was a two-putt from 20 feet after reaching the green in two on the 461-yard sixth hole.

"It's important to not waste any strokes (in the second round)," Wilson said. "And be careful and make no mistakes."

It was an up-and-down round for Hilo's Higa, too. She birdied the fifth, took the turn at 1-under, and stumbled to two double bogeys and two bogeys to go along with a birdie on the back nine.

"I'm proud and happy for Kristen," Hilo coach Jan Watanabe said. "She has struggled all season, but her game is starting to come around. She has a legitimate shot at the title, two strokes back.

"Waiakea will be tough to catch. Their girls came to play. Coach Lance and his girls deserve it."

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