Friday, June 29, 2001

KEN SAKAMOTO / KSAKAMOTO@ STAR-BULLETIN.COM
Tournament chairwoman Wendy Smith, left, and Hawaii
State Women's Golf Association president Sally Harper
toss Stephanie Kono in the pool at Oahu Country Club
today. Kono, 11, defeated Desiree Ting, 6 and 5, to win
the state women's match play championship today.
She fired a hole-in-one on the par 4 ninth hole
for good measure.

Kono is golf’s
latest phenom

The 11-year-old beats Desiree
Ting, 6 and 5, to win the HSWGA
Match Play title today

---

By Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.com

Stephanie Kono sank her first hole-in-one today and with it any hopes her opponent might have had of a comeback.

Kono, 11, defeated former University of Hawaii golfer Desiree Ting, 6 and 5, at the Hawaii State Women's Golf Association Match Play Championships to become the youngest winner in the history of the tournament.

Kono was 2-up when she drove a ball almost 220 yards on the 9th hole, a par-4 for the ladies. The ball landed 12 feet to the right of the pin, rolled up the green and dropped into the cup.

The hole-in-one elicited cheers from the spectators but the sixth grader from Punahou stayed remarkably calm.

KEN SAKAMOTO / KSAKAMOTO@STARBULLETIN.COM
Stephanie Kono, 11, put her name in the record books today
when she beat Desiree Ting, 6 and 5, in the final of th
e HSWGA Match Play Championship.

"I felt surprised," Kono said. "It was so shocking I couldn't even think at that time. And then after that, everything started going my way so it was very lucky."

Luck had nothing to do with it.

It was Kono's composure, the same calm she had shown all tournament, including yesterday when she defeated Bev Kim on the 19th hole, a three-time winner of the championship.

Kono parred the extra hole to win in sudden death.

Her coach Kevin Ralbovsky describes her as unflappable.

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Stephanie Kono, 11, missed this 3-foot putt on the 17th yesterday.
Kono led Bev Kim 1-up going to the 18th, but Kim would tie
the match on the 18th, forcing Kono to win in a playoff.

"She's one of the rare talents," said Ralbovsky. "Her demeanor is very calm and she doesn't have too many highs or lows. She doesn't get rattled."

Kono didn't celebrate her hole-in-one. Instead she birdied the 10th hole to go 4-up and demoralize Ting.

Ting was never quite the same after the hole-in-one. But she believed that she still had a chance with the back nine still remaining. But she felt the pressure as Kono continued to build her lead.

"I totally broke down," Ting said. "That wasn't me. I was mentally exhausted. I lost my concentration."

For Kono, there was never any pressure. Her only goal for the event had been to reach the final.