[ GOLF ]
Amanda Wilson: Hilo teen learned of her U.S. Women's Open berth Sunday
Wilson will make
her major debut
Turns out Michelle Wie won't be the only Hawaii teenager to tee it up tomorrow at the U.S. Women's Open.
Hilo's Amanda Wilson, 16, was a late addition to the tournament at Orchards Golf Club in South Hadley, Mass., and will compete in her first major championship as one of 16 amateurs in the field.
"This is big, especially for a high school girl," said Lance Taketa, Wilson's coach at Wai-akea High. "I told her this is the biggest tournament she's ever played in so just enjoy it.
"She has a lot of composure and a lot of confidence in her game. She'll be fine as long as she doesn't get caught up with the media stuff and the circus atmosphere."
Taketa said Wilson was informed of her invitation to the Open on Sunday. She joins Wie, a 14-year-old from Honolulu who was granted a sponsor's exemption into the tournament.
Wilson earned alternate status for the U.S. Open by finishing second in the Hawaii sectional qualifier on June 15 at Ko Olina Golf Course. The U.S. Golf Association ranks the alternates according to its reallotment schedule and Wilson was granted a spot when the player above her in the rankings gained exemption into the tournament.
The U.S. Open is an unexpected stop on Wilson's East Coast tour this summer. She competed in the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship in Virginia last week and finished one stroke short of qualifying for match play. She then went to Pennsylvania for a U.S. Girls Junior Amateur Championship qualifying tournament.
She pulled out of the qualifier because her participation in the U.S. Open guarantees her a place in the Junior Amateur Championship.
Both Taketa and Hilo pro Kevin Hayashi, her personal coach for the last three years, said Wilson's accuracy off the tee should help her get around the 6,473-yard, par-71 course this week.
"I really feel she has the game to do well there," Hayashi said. "She said in her practice round she hit everything in the fairway. That will be the key for her, keeping it in the fairway and making the putts inside of 10 feet."
Wilson had hoped Hayashi would caddy for her, since he was playing in the PGA Club Pro Championship in Nashport, Ohio, last week, but he had already returned to Hilo by the time he got the news. He said Wilson will use a caddy from the club who is familiar with the greens.
In the meantime, Hayashi and Taketa will do their best to coach over the phone.
"She'll be nervous at the beginning, but once you hit your first tee shot you kind of go into your own world," Hayashi said. "As long as she stays in the present and doesn't look ahead at making the cut and things like that she'll be fine."
Wilson, an incoming senior at Waiakea, finished third in the David S. Ishii Foundation/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Girls Championship in May and won the Jennie K. Wilson Women's Invitational later that month.
"She has a chance to showcase what she can do," Hayashi said.
"She won the Jennie K., but a lot of people in Hawaii don't now about her."
Wilson is scheduled to tee off in one of the final two groups of tomorrow's opening round. She'll play with Yvonne Cox of Charleston, W.Va., and Chiharu Yamaguchi of Japan in the group that will start on the 10th tee at 2:27 p.m. local time (8:27 a.m. Hawaii time).
Wie is scheduled to tee off at 1:22 a.m. Hawaii time. She will play with Candie Kung of Chinese Taipei and Jill McGill of San Diego.
Ria Quiazon of Union City, Calif., the winner of the Hawaii sectional qualifier, starts at 6:15 a.m.
