Kono shares lead at U.S. Women's Publinx
By Arthur Utley
Special to the Advertiser
WILLIAMSBURG, VA. — One of the opening-round co-leaders in the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links golf tournament is 14 and goes to Punahou School in Honolulu. And she's not Michelle Wie.
Associated Press
She is Stephanie Kono, who is six weeks younger than Wie and has had her share of golf success in her home state. Kono, who will be a freshman in the fall, shot a 3-under-par 69 on the Golden Horseshoe Golf Club's Green Course yesterday, and shares the top spot with Carling Cho, a 19-year-old from San Juan Capistrano, Calif.
Defending champ Michelle Wie watches her tee shot at the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links tourney.
"I'm just happy about the way I played," said Kono, who struggled early in her round. "I just want to go out (today) and shoot a good score. Match play is what it's all about."
Wie, the defending champion, is one stroke back after a round of 70 that included a four-putt and a pairing with an alternate who shot 17-over 89. She is joined at that number by her Curtis Cup teammates Jane Park, a Californian, and Brittany Lang, from Texas.
Also at 70 are Jooyoung Yang, a South Korean who lives near San Diego, Ya-Ni Tseng of Taiwan, who also is using San Diego as her summer-long base, Eva Yoe of the Peoples Republic of China, Hwanhee Lee of Henderson, Nev., and Courtney Mahon of Topeka, Kan.
Lehua Wise, of Lihu'e, led six other Hawai'i golfers in the 144-player field with a 1-over 73. The others are: Whitney Ueno, of Hilo, with 75; Amanda Wilson, of Hilo, with 78; Miki Ueoka, of Lihu'e, with 80; Kelli Nakano, of Pukalani, Maui, with 83; and Rose Pagan, of Kula, Maui, with 85.
Yesterday's play was the first round of 36-hole, on-site qualifying that will determine the 64 players who advance to match play beginning tomorrow.
The 5-foot-4 Kono — nine inches shorter than her schoolmate — may not be as well-known nationally as the more celebrated Wie, but she won three state titles last year: Hawai'i State Open (women's division), Hawai'i State Women's Golf Association Stroke Play Championship, and Hawai'i State Junior Golf Association Tournament of Champions.
Kono
Kono has also won all three Hawai'i women's majors — State Match Play (2001), Stroke Play and Jennie K. Wilson Invitational (both in 2003).
"Michelle has done a lot for women's golf," Kono said. "I'm just hoping to do my best."
Kono was 1-over par on the front nine but started the back nine with birdie, birdie, par, birdie, birdie and wound up with a 4-under 32.
"I was struggling hitting the ball, but on the (par-3) ninth, I hit a good tee shot, and that helped me," Kono said. "My coach (and caddie Kevin Ralbovsky) told me the speed on my putts was good and that I just needed one to drop."
She holed a 20-footer for birdie on the 10th to begin her hot streak.
Cho, who will be a junior at UC-Irvine, had five birdies and a double bogey for her 69. She birdied the 18th with a downhill, 30-foot putt to tie Kono.
Wie's four-putt occurred on the par-5 fifth hole. The first putt from 36 feet stopped 5 feet short of the cup. Her second lipped out and went five feet past the hole. The third putt missed by a foot. She tapped in for double bogey.
Associated Press
"I was trying to work on my putting, so I thought I'd take an extra stroke," Wie said, laughing and adding that she hadn't four-putted in at least two years.
Michelle Wie leads her group down the 10th fairway. Wie is among eight golfers from Hawai'i competing in the women's tournament.
She was able to joke about it because she bounced back with birdie on the next hole. She followed that with birdies on the remaining three par 5s. She also birdied the second hole and bogeyed the 12th.
For Wie, poise was the word of the day. She and Jordyn Wells of Bethel Park, Pa., the third player in her group, likely suffered as Kristan Bennett's struggles removed any hope of a rhythm being established. Wie had no such complaints afterward.
"It wasn't really her fault," she said of Bennett, of Trenton, Mich., and the third alternate to make it into the field. "She wasn't having a really good day and I sympathize with her. We all have those days."
Wells, who shot 77, was duly impressed by Wie's poise, and game.
"She could be a lot cockier for how good she is," Wells said.
This is the second time in the past six weeks that Wie has been in Williamsburg. She finished tied for 12th in the LPGA Tour's Michelob Ultra Open across town at Kingsmill Resort. Her Kingsmill finish helped earn her a special exemption from the USGA into next week's U.S. Women's Open.
"The courses are totally different. You have to play position golf at Kingsmill. Here it's driver and wedge, and it's mostly open except for a couple of holes," Wie said. "Since I played at Kingsmill, I know the area well, and I didn't get lost."
Arthur Utley is a writer for the Sports Richmond Times-Dispatch. The Associated Press and United States Golf Association Web site contributed to this report.
