Sports Watch
THE 54-hole Jennie K. Invitational golf tournament that began today at the Mid-Pacific Country Club is No. 1 in many ways. Jennie K. once was
top tourneyNo, it's not the oldest women's tournament locally. That honor goes to the Moanalua Women's Invitational, which began two years earlier in 1948.
But the Jennie K. is the first major women's tournament of the year. And it used to be the most prestigious wahine tournament as well.
Anyone who was anybody in local women's golf played the 54-hole tournament in Lanikai.
Former champions include Jackie Pung, Lori Castillo, Cindy Flom, Pam Kometani, Lesly Ann Komoda and Tura Nagatoshi, a recent Hawaii Golf Hall of Fame inductee.
But times, they are a'changin'.
With a dearth of top amateur events here, many of the leading wahine golfers have turned professional and are trying to earn some money in mini-tours on the mainland or in the Far East.
Consequently, the number of players competing in the Jennie K.'s championship-flight has dwindled dramatically in recent years.
Most of the top players now are University of Hawaii players, ex-Wahine or high school seniors.
UH freshman Kathy Cho, the only winner (1996) other than Anna Umemura in the last four years, and ex-Rainbow Kari Williams , the 1994 champion, are entered.
Also in the scaled-down championship field are Merynn Ito (Aiea), Jamie Yoshimura (Kaiser) , Bridget Dwyer (Punahou) and Cecily Quinajon (Waiakea), who competed in the state girls' tournament last week on the Big Island's Hapuna Golf Course.
Umemura, who just completed her sophomore year at the University of Tennessee, is not defending her title.
Here's hoping for a bigger and better 50th Jennie K. in 2000. Though it started in 1950, the Jennie K. wasn't held in 1967 because the Mid-Pac course was being renovated.
On line with Nicole: Another previous Jennie K. champion is Nicole Horner, who won in 1990. Horner, who now gives lessons at the Red Mountain Ranch Country Club in Mesa, Ariz., earned a spot in this year's U.S. Women's Open in a regional qualifying Monday.
It's the third time she has qualified for the U.S. Open. The first two came in 1995 and 1997. "Seems like it's every other year for me," said Horner, 27, the former Punahou standout who went on to play for San Jose State.
A SWINGING LIFER: Joe Noyama is a perfect 18-for-18 in the "Swing for Life" golf benefit for the St. Francis Medical Center. He kept his record intact by playing in the 18th annual tournament yesterday at Mililani.
Actually, it's a labor of love for Noyama, 75. The late Maurice Sullivan, the Foodland magnate, had asked Noyama, now the company's senior vice president, how they could raise money for St. Francis Hospital.
An avid golfer who used to play in an Ala Wai sixsome that included Masa Kaya, Noyama suggested a golf tournament in which the donors can get something in return.
They enlisted the late Larry Dolim of Holsum Bakery and other vendors to make the event a huge success . More than 300 golfers participate in the benefit, which has had to expand to a morning round as well.
SOL WON IT, TOO: Ted Makalena won the Navy-Marine Open for his first professional victory in 1956, not 1957 as mentioned last week. A Makalena, brother Sol, won the N-M Open the following year in a playoff with Jimmy Ukauka.