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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, August 1, 2002

HAVE A BLAST WITH OUR PAST
At age 18, golfer Planos was tearing up fairways

Learn about Hawai'i sports history and those who figured prominently in it in this feature. We'll ask a question Wednesday and present the answer in an in-depth profile on Thursday.

Lori Castillo Planos was 18 in 1979 when she won the first of two U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championships in a row.

Lori Castillo Planos photo

Q: During her time, she was more dominant than Michelle Wie. Until 2000, she was the youngest to win a U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship, something she accomplished twice. Who is she and how old was she when she won her first Publinx title?

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

Lori Castillo Planos is so focused on the golf course she barely recalls players she beat and, at age 17, blithely ignored ABC's Wide World of Sports cameras during the Girls U.S. Junior Championship in 1978.

Lori Castillo Planos’ “family” includes husband Gary and two English Springer Spaniels whose names have golf connections. Jigger, left, is named after The Jigger Inn, a pub off the 17th fairway of The Old Course at St. Andrews. Glenna is named after Glenna Collett Vare, one of the greatest women’s amateur golfers.

Lori Castillo Planos photo

But she will always remember that tap-tap-tap of the flagstick on the first hole of the 1979 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship final.

"My caddy was so young, just a kid (maybe 12, she thinks), and he was so nervous," Planos recalls. "The first hole he took the flagstick out and he was shaking so hard you could hear the flagstick making noise while you were putting."

Planos, 18, coolly walked over to her distraught caddy and told him to lay the flagstick on the ground. A few hours later, she was a national champion, with a 2-up victory over Becky Pearson.

The match came down to Planos' clutch 3-wood, launched precisely at the 17th hole. Planos made the birdie putt and pumped her fist, a la Tiger — who was 4 at the time.

"It was the most emotional I ever got on a golf course," says Planos, who eventually turned pro and toured overseas. She now lives on Maui — husband Gary is vice president of resort operations at Kapalua — and is a manufacturers representative for Ping.

In 1980, a 2-and-1 victory over Pam Miller at Center Square Golf Course in Pennsylvania allowed Planos to defend her championship.

Soon after, she received a letter inviting her on the U.S. Curtis Cup team. In Wales, she and Patty Sheehan helped the U.S. to a 13-5 victory over Great Britain and Ireland, teaming to take all their matches by the 15th hole.

Planos would win 11 consecutive publinx matches before finally falling in the second round in 1981. At that point, she held or shared every tournament record.

Her gift for golf came naturally, after hitting billions of balls. All four brothers and father Ron are professionals. But match play is where Planos was truly special.

Initially, she balked at the format. "Typical girl," Planos said. "I didn't really like match play because you had to beat somebody."

A few matches into the 1978 U.S. Girls' Junior Championship, which she also won, Planos' opponent burst into tears when she lost: "I felt like the biggest jerk in the world," Planos recalled.

She got over it, big time. She is one of only three to defend a WAPL championship and her remarkable roll from 1978-80 still ranks as one of the U.S. Golf Association's most impressive achievements.

Locally, Planos never found a major women's tournament she couldn't dominate, winning all three majors and five state open titles.

She still plays, well, but her challenges are usually far from the spotlight, such as proving she can walk Kapalua Plantation — a course that's exhausting to ride.

There are other priorities now, but those national championships are something that will stay with her always.

"My dad always told me to concentrate on national tournaments as far as my preparation because if you win a USGA tournament they can never take it away from you," Planos said. "No one remembers Junior World. It's a great tournament, but you won't be a trivia question."

DID YOU KNOW THIS? Planos still holds the single-round (8-under 66) and tournament record (216) at the Jennie K. Wilson Invitational, which she won by 17 strokes in 1983. ... Even the names of Planos' English Springer Spaniels have golf connections. Jigger is named after Jigger Inn, an 18th century cottage just off the 17th fairway of The Old Course at St. Andrews. It is said that nearly every great golfer of the past 150 years has lifted a pint and traded a story in this historic gathering spot. Glenna is named after Glenna Collett Vare, who was called "the female Bobby Jones." Vare won a record six U.S. Women's Amateur titles from 1922-35.