Kokx, Tsukada in final of match play

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

What difference does a year make?

Kathy Tsukada defeated Bev Kim 1-up to advance to today's final. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

Bobbi Kokx, 38, and Kathy Tsukada, 45, will meet in this morning's final at Oahu Country Club. Both are older than the combined ages of last year's finalists. Both feel even older after rallying from 3-down deficits for dramatic 1-up victories in yesterday's semifinals.

Kokx weathered a wondrous start by Pepperdine sophomore Rachel Kyono to win in 18 holes. Tsukada shrugged off a rare 18th-hole birdie by three-time champion Bev Kim, 56, to win on the 19th hole.

Despite their ages, neither finalist can fall back on experience today.

Kokx, former Rainbow Wahine coach and two-time Jennie K. champion, has never played this tournament before. She played for UH in the mid-'80's. From 1991-'97 she was, according to her business card, "A Patient Teaching Pro" and not eligible for this amateur event.

Bobbi Kokx, a two-time Jennie K champion, beat Rachel Kyono 1-up. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

That loss, like yesterday's, came with a spectacular save on the 18th hole, followed by frustration. Last year, Kim's playoff drive at No. 1 (401-yard par-5) was buried on the side of a slope. Yesterday, she pulled it past the trees, left her second shot short of a clearing, then clipped a tree with her third.

Tsukada, as she had the entire back nine, hit two shots dead center, chipped on and whacked her first putt to gimme range. Kim conceded.

"Kathy is an aggressive putter," Kim said. "You know the junior golfers ... they don't know any better. All they see is the hole and they just go plunk and it's in. She putts like a junior golfer."

Off the green, Tsukada's game is conservative. She's rarely in trouble and yesterday she was tenacious beyond her golf years thanks in part to husband/caddy Dennis' constant pleas to "not give up," even after she made the turn 3-down.

That deficit could be traced directly to Kim's consistent play and Tsukada's consistently short putts. She turned that around radically on the back, winning Nos. 10 and 12 with one-putts, then surging ahead when she captured Nos. 15 and 16.

Tsukada, who grew up in Korea, credits her swift rise in golf to a great boss. She and her husband own three Baskin-Robbins.

"I work early morning at my store," Tsukada said. "After that I go straight to golf. I don't go anywhere else. I'm getting old. I don't have time. Soon I'll be 50. That's why I never believed I could do this."

Kokx gets most of her golf at twilight, after teaching third grade at Kihei Elementary. Since a disappointing Jennie K. finish, she has been working on her game with Kapalua Golf Academy's Jerry King.

He has given her goals and a sweeter swing. That and her notorious patience helped her past Kyono, a former state stroke play and high school champion.

"I knew going into the match that Rachel is such a good player that birdie wins the hole," Kokx said. "The first hole she made eagle. I made birdie. In that case, birdie doesn't win the hole."

Kokx was even par after four holes, and 3-down. Her patience paid off on the sixth, which she won with a 35-foot birdie putt. "I was really stoked with that putt," she said. "That was the most emotion I had all day."

The twosome was a combined 4-under par on the front. Kokx cut her deficit to one with birdie on the 10th. She caught Kyono with bogey on the very weird 12th, where Kokx's putt from the back rolled off the green and Kyono's putt from the front fringe bounced straight up, rolled halfway home, then reversed off the green and down the slope.

"There was something right in front of the ball," Kyono said. "I didn't see it and thought I could putt it. It was a stupid mistake."

Kokx won the next hole for her first advantage. Birdie on the 15th ultimately proved the difference.