Posted on: Thursday, February 17, 2005
Chun, Kono receive qualifying exemptions
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Mari Chun and Stephanie Kono have received exemptions to play in Monday qualifying for the SBS Open, a full-field LPGA Tour event at Turtle Bay Resort that starts next Thursday.
The two high school students will be going against LPGA pros for two spots in the 132-player SBS Open field.
Chun, 17 and a Kamehameha Schools student, won the 2004 Junior World Championship and the Girls Americas Cup championship.
Kono, 15, and a student at Punahou School, won her second consecutive Hawai'i State Women's Golf Association Match Play title in 2004.
Another teenager, Na Yeon Choi of South Korea, has been granted a sponsor exemption into the SBS Open field.
Choi, 17, will be making her LPGA Tour debut. She won the ADT, CAPS Invitational Golf Tournament — the final event of the KLPGA last season — and turned pro.
Choi will join Honolulu's Michelle Wie, 15, in the tournament field.
U.S. Open qualifying set for Hawai'i courses
Local qualifying for the 2005 U.S. Open Championship will be held at four Hawai'i courses in May.
The courses and dates are:
The U.S. Open Championship will be played from June 16 to 19 at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club in the Village of Pinehurst, N.C.
Entries for the 2005 U.S. Open Championship must be received by the United States Golf Association by April 27.
The cost is $125 to enter. For an entry application, call the USGA at (908) 234-2300 or enter online at the USGA Web site at www.usga.org. Entrants must have a handicap index not exceeding 1.4. Entrants must select one of approximately 100 local qualifying sites and one of the 12 sectional qualifying sites.
Eighteen-hole local qualifiers will be held nationwide from May 11 to 23, with the top finishers advancing to sectional qualifying at 12 sites from June 6 to 7. Hawai'i once again will host a sectional qualifier this year on June 6 at Maui's Ka'anapali North course.
Also, the Open will hold 36-hole qualifiers in Japan and England this year, the first time players will be allowed to qualify outside the United States.
The U.S. Open will have sectional qualifiers June 6 at Ono Golf Club near Kobe, Japan, and at Walton Heath Golf Club in England.
USGA to require handicap certification
To be certified by the United States Golf Association, all local golf clubs will be required to go through a nationwide USGA Handicap System certification process by the end of the year.
The process, which includes a seminar and exam under the supervision of a golf association representative, is meant to ensure that all golfers who offer a USGA approved handicap index abide by the guidelines set forth in the USGA's handicap manual.
All clubs that complete the process will remain certified for up to five years.
For more information, call the Hawai'i State Golf Association at 589-2909.
