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Japan teen Sakura
is a real pro

The 19-year-old golf star takes
the Hawaii Pearl Open by storm
and opens with a 4-under 67

SHE signs autographs. She has a gallery. She has people taking pictures of her with their cellular phones.

She shot a 4-under 67 (still five shots off the lead after some guy came out of nowhere to shoot an amazing 62) yesterday at the 27th Hawaii Pearl Open, a men's pro event.

She's got an endorsement deal with Marie Claire. Her irons are adorned with pink grips.

She's only 19.

And she's teen sensational, baby. She's teen sensational.

She was born Sakura Yokomine, but she's since dropped the second half. She's already one-name famous.

Wait, she seems a little bit baffled at that.

"It's dad's doing," her interpreter explained, after everything was sorted out. It was the name she was registered under, when they signed up with the Pearl Country Club.

The Japanese LPGA, where she plays, where she's already a star, insists on using a full name on all official paperwork. At least two names on the leaderboard. No Elvis, no Savo, no Cher.

But dad is trying to add to the brand when they play overseas. It's a smart move, a Japanese reporter and I decided. One name. It makes people think something big is on the horizon.

They would be right.

She's already huge in Japan, her home country. We had a full-fledged media horde yesterday. Video cameras were everywhere, catching her every move, in her face before and after every shot. She had still cameras with their long lenses trained on her. Writers trailing, trudging through her every muddy footstep, keeping track of every swing.

Twenty cameras recorded her signing her scorecard as if it were the Declaration of Independence, click-click-click-click-click-click-click.

She's so famous her dad had his very own camera crew in his face, as he walked the course. He was wired for sound under his shirt like one of those TV police informants.

For the first time, all her family was with her, on the road. "It doesn't feel like I'm here for a tournament," she would say, sporting freshly bought earrings purchased in our 50th state. "But once I step on the golf course, I'm ready."

She was. It took a while for her to warm up. It was a day for ducks -- muddy, wet. The greens were soft, the rough was sloshed.

The smartest guy among us walked the course in knee-high rubber boots.

But you could see. She could play.

Even with all the cameras, she wasn't nervous, she said. Even with Isao Aoki taking in the last half of her round she didn't bat an eye.

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CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM At 19 years old, Sakura Yokomine is already a star on the Japanese LPGA Tour.

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Even playing against men for the first time in tournament play there were no jitters. No, not really.

The Pearl Open is a different kind of tournament. Laid back. Michelle Wie had broken the gender barrier here when Wie was 12, so there would be no backlash. She'd be no oddity.

It's casual. No ropes to keep the fans away. A respectful silence, but no library glares.

At one point a competitor putted, leaving a cigarette smoking on the green.

Sakura had a convoy of carts in her gallery. Noise never bothered her. Dogs barked. She never blinked. A guy was doing a home-construction project on one of the apartments that overlook the course. Bang bang bang!

Nothing.

She's more than just sensational. She's a real pro.

She even had a new caddie to work with. Usually it's Dad the Marketing Genius. This time it was her close friend, Saori Motokariya, 20.

Motokariya is also an aspiring pro, so she knows her stuff. Caddying is training for her. They'd known of each other these past couple years, but somehow in the last few months they just clicked. They're close now, and you can see it, two girls, gaggling, giggling. Having a great time. Betting over putts, Sakura would say.

But a friend can keep a teen sensation planted on planet Earth.

"We don't hold back," Motokariya would say, laughing but honest, just like her day on the bag. "We say it to each other."

And Sakura would find her tempo, thriving under a muddy day's "wipe and place" rules.

She shot a 32 on her back nine. She had some beautiful backspin on her second shot to set up birdie on No. 8. On 9, her birdie putt hung there on the lip for a split second before it dropped, Danny Noonan-like, for her final score.

Her goal coming in was to shoot par, and that's what she's looking for again today.

But the media had already warned her -- with smiles, of course -- they were excited, would want more of the same.

She's teen sensational, after all.

"I'm not used to it yet," she said, of all the attention. "But it doesn't bother me out there."