Kono adds
Jennie K to win listThe 13-year-old gives the girls
another win against the women
Two years after capturing the Hawaii's Women's Match Play Championship at the age of 11, Stephanie Kono added the state's most prestigious women's stroke-play title to her trophy case yesterday, walking off the 18th green at the Mid-Pacific Country Club in Lanikai with a relatively easy four-shot win in the Jennie K Invitational.
Kono's victory marked the third straight year that a young girl has won the Jennie K. Michelle Wie took the title at the tender age of 11 in 2001, with Kira-Ann Murashige, a 15-year-old from Hilo, upstaging the adults last year.
This year it was Kono's turn to shine. The 13-year-old golfer, who led after the first two rounds of last year's Jennie K, only to succumb to the pressure of the final round, was determined not to let it happen again.
And indeed, on a day in which high winds sent scores soaring, the normally shy and easy going Punahou seventh-grader exhibited a steely new resolve, carding a final-round 78 for a total of 8-over-par 224, to eclipse Bridget Dwyer, a UCLA junior, who birdied the final hole to close with a 76 and place second at 228.
Kamehameha's Mari Chun and veteran Bobbi Kokx, a two-time Jennie K champion, both carded 80s and were tied for third at 229 with Kauai High's Lehua Wise, who shot a final-round 81. Amanda Wilson of Waiakea High on the Big Island was another shot back after a closing 79, while defending champion Murashige fired the day's best score, a 75, to finish sixth at 232.
"For the past four months, I worked very hard to prepare for this tournament," Kono said afterward. "I feel very satisfied with the way I played. This is a big win for me."
"Stephanie came into this year's tournament with the mindset that she was going to win," said her coach and caddie, Kevin Ralbovsky, a teaching professional at the Koolau Golf Club. "It was very different from last year, when she came in just trying to play well."
Kono entered the final round leading Wise by two shots, with Kokx and Chun another shot back. Although Kono bogeyed the first hole, she quickly got it back with a birdie at the third to increase her lead to four shots.
Beginning at the par-5 fifth, Kono made three straight bogeys, her only bad stretch of golf during the week, but again she quickly righted herself with pars on the next six holes. At the turn she still led by four and never allowed anyone to get closer than that.
"When I started my round today, I was trying to make birdies," Kono said. "But the wind was blowing so hard I realized that I just needed to concentrate on making pars. I was a little worried after I made those three bogeys. But when I saw that the other players were having trouble too, I decided to put it out of my mind."
"With the high winds, the tough pin placements and the speed of the greens, it was almost impossible to make birdies today," said Ralbovsky. "It became a matter of who was going to make the most pars."
In addition to bringing a new mental toughness to her game, Kono has added distance off the tee, thanks to a weight-training program she has undertaken to strengthen her arms and upper body. Both she and Ralbovsky estimate that she is powering her drives an average of 265 yards, or about 20 yards farther than a year ago.
Kono has a busy summer planned. Within the next two weeks she will play in qualifying events for the U.S. Women's Open and the USGA Women's Public Links Championship. Among the national junior tournaments she hopes to qualify for this summer are the USGA Junior Girls, the PGA National Junior and the Junior World.
Although Kono must wait another year before she is eligible to play high school golf, Ralbovsky said that between now and her senior year in high school she intends to boost her junior girls national ranking with the aim of getting a scholarship from a top college golf program.
Kokx, the former golf coach for the University of Hawaii women's golf team, acknowledged that Kono's future looks very bright. "She's a fantastic player," she said. "And she's getting mentally stronger. She's even getting a little fiery. That's good to see."