StarBulletin.com

Hawaii Beat


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POSTED: Sunday, March 29, 2009

Wie's struggles continue in Phoenix

Honolulu's Michelle Wie continued her indifferent performance yesterday at the J Golf Phoenix LPGA International with a 2-over 74 that left her in a tie for 61st, 17 shots behind fellow tour rookie Jiyai Shin of South Korea.

Shin, who already has four LPGA Tour wins, shot a stellar 66 to go to 10 under for the tournament. First- and second-day leader In-Kyung Kim was tied for second with former world No. 1 Karrie Webb at 9 under.

Wie carded only one birdie against three bogeys as she continued to struggle with all phases of her game. Through 54 holes, the 19-year-old Punahou School graduate has hit only 20 fairways and 29 greens in regulation. She has also required 89 putts, a pedestrian total for a professional golfer.

She will finish her final round today in hopes of shaking off the rust in time for this week's Kraft Nabisco Championship, the first LPGA Tour major of the season. This is Wie's first tournament since the season opener at the SBS Open at Turtle Bay, where she finished second to Angela Stanford.

 

MacCorquodale wins hammer throw

Hawaii freshman Emma MacCorquodale won the collegiate division of the hammer throw as the Stanford Invitational track meet concluded yesterday at Stanford, Calif.

MacCorquodale's throw was 172 feet, 3 inches—her seasonal beat—just shy of the NCAA regional qualifying standard.

 

Chow earns spot on world team

Honolulu's Mindy Chow won her division at USA Judo's Cadet World Trials yesterday in York, Pa.

Chow, the top seed at 52kg, will compete for the U.S. in the Cadet World Championships, Aug. 6-9, in Budapest, Hungary.

 

Wahine edge Bears in water polo

Kelly Mason scored with 14 seconds left to give No. 4 Hawaii a 6-5 victory over No. 5 Cal in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation water polo match at the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex.

Mason's shot from long range gave the Rainbow Wahine (15-7, 2-4) their sixth straight win.

 

Punahou, Maryknoll champs at QB Club

Punahou's Mike Taylor and Bobby Samson of Maryknoll, who coached their teams to girls state basketball titles, headline the program at tomorrow's Honolulu Quarterback Club luncheon at the Pagoda Hotel.

Joining them will be state tournament MVPs Janelle Nomura of Punahou (Division I) and Maryknoll's Kristen Canencia (Division II). The program begins at 11:30 a.m. with lunch at noon.

 

Florence into junior surf quarterfinal.

Hawaii's John John Florence turned in the biggest upset of the day when advancing to the quarterfinals of the Vans Pier Classic, part of the ASP World Qualifying Series, in Huntington Beach, Calif.

The 16-year-old Florence eliminated former event champion and hometown favorite Micah Byrne in yesterday's Round 5 heat. Florence scored a 15.50, the second-best score of the day.

Eliminated in the Round of 32 were Hawaii's Jason Shibata, Liam McNamara, Dege O'Connell, Nathan Carroll and Keli Everett.

 

Hawaii falls to Illinois in tennis

No. 33 Illinois swept yesterday's three doubles matches en route to a 5-2 win over Hawaii at the UH Tennis Complex.

The Rainbow Wahine (8-8) picked up singles victories at No. 1 when freshman Ellen Lisenbolz topped Leigh Finnegan 6-2, 6-3, and at No. 2 with Sophie Kobuch's 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (11-9) win over Megan Fudge.

 

Red Storm routs Vulcans in baseball

Drew Oldfield drove in 12 runs on three home runs to lead Dixie State over Hawaii-Hilo 28-9 and 14-3 in a PacWest baseball doubleheader yesterday at St. George, Utah.

The teams conclude the series today at Bruce Hurst Field.

» Chico State completed a sweep of a five-game nonconference baseball series with Hawaii Pacific, taking yesterday's doubleheader 7-6 and 16-0.

HPU was outscored 47-12 in the series at Nettleton Stadium.

 

HPU, Grand Canyon split in softball

Kozy Toriano's two-run double highlighted a four-run fourth as No. 11 Hawaii Pacific (25-5, 13-3) earned a split of yesterday's PacWest softball doubleheader with an 8-0 victory in the second game against Grand Canyon in Phoenix.

The Antelopes (25-17, 8-7) won the opener 3-2 on Yasmeen Watkins' RBI single with one out in the bottom of the seventh.

» In St. George, Utah, Katresha Veazie tossed a one-hitter to lead Brigham Young-Hawaii to a 3-1 victory over Dixie State in the first game of a PacWest softball doubleheader.

The 18th-ranked Red Storm (28-6, 17-5) salvaged a split when shutting out the Seasiders (12-22, 5-11) 6-0 in the second game on Lauren Folta's no-hitter.

» At Belmont, Calif., Hawai-Hilo swept a PacWest softball doubleheader from Notre Dame de Namur, 4-2 and 8-0.

The Vulcans improved to 13-21, 10-7 PWC, while the Argos dropped to 8-21-1 and 0-14.