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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Thursday, June 23, 2005

STATE WOMEN'S MATCH PLAY
Major title for minor Okino

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 •  Around the Greens: International qualifying for Open big success
 •  Holes in One
 •  Golf notices

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

Navigating a golf minefield with the wisdom of a much older — say 12 or 13 — golfer, Cyd Okino won her first Hawai'i women's major yesterday.

Cyd Okino, with daddy-caddie Cyrus offering advice, won the HSWGA's Match Play Championship at OCC.

Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

Okino, 11, held off tenacious Shelcie Takenouchi, 1-up, to win the State Women's Match Play Championship at Oahu Country Club. Okino eagled the first hole, birdied the second, then successfully played keepaway with her lead the next three hours.

The incoming Kaimuki Middle School seventh-grader became the youngest match play champion since the Hawai'i State Women's Golf Association started to oversee the tournament in 1971. Okino is two weeks younger than Stephanie Kono was when she won in 2001.

That was the year the pre-teens started pillaging major Hawai'i championships. Okino, who just qualified for the U.S. Women's Public Links, is providing overwhelming evidence that the kids' power grab in golf won't end soon.

"Cyd is just such a great player for her age," said Takenouchi, a Kaua'i High graduate invited to walk on Southern California's golf team in the fall. "I wasn't anywhere close. She has a very good short game, her putting is really good, her length off the tee is really good. I'm sure she can keep up with the girls my age and even some from college. And she's accurate. All aspects of her game are really good."

That includes those unseen and invaluable.

When Okino hit good shots not rewarded by OCC's unique layout, she came back with better shots all week. She overcame the nerves that accompany a major championship chase with a barrage of brilliant shots.

And, when father Cyrus lost his temper caddying, his daughter soothed him with dead-solid swings and an imperturbable attitude designed to "not give him a reason to get mad."

"Our deal is for him not to get mad, but we kind of break that rule," Cyd said. "Sometimes it keeps me going. Sometimes I wish he was quieter."

At the ripe old age of 11, and with nearly half her life spent in Casey Nakama's prodigy-producing golf program, Okino has seemingly seen it all on the course. She proved that with Takenouchi closing, her father fuming and her putting sputtering on the 14th hole.

Takenouchi had cut a three-hole deficit to one by eagling No. 9 (219-yard par-4) with a 2-foot putt and parring the 12th. Okino bogeyed there when her approach shot rolled back off the green to the bottom of the hill.

Both had approach shots from inside 100 yards on the 14th (355-yard par-4). Takenouchi missed the green and two-putted for bogey. Okino three-putted from 8 feet to halve it and give Takenouchi renewed hope.

"That was pretty bad," Cyd said. "I was really nervous. I was nervous pretty much all day but especially on the back nine."

While her father vented his anger, Okino ripped two shots on the next hole (544-yard- par-5), bounced her approach into the flagstick and drained a 6-foot birdie putt to calm him. It was ultimately the difference.

Both parred the next hole. With the match dormied, Okino lipped out a par putt that would have won it on the 17th — her third three-putt on the back — and finally subdued Takenouchi with a conservative bogey on the final hole.

"I just had to not give up," Okino said. "If I gave up, this wouldn't have happened."

Takenouchi, two inches shorter than Okino at 5 feet 1, also refused to relent, smiling throughout her long rally. Coming off a sixth-place state high school finish, she gutted out a pair of 1-up matches Tuesday to reach the final, then tried to chase Okino down after her warp-speed start.

"She was just going at the beginning," Takenouchi said. "She was hitting it great and putting great. Everything was great. I tried to be patient. You can't hit perfect shots every time."

Takenouchi found the center of the fairway with nearly every drive and made almost everything within 6 feet on OCC's radically breaking greens. She simply ran out of holes.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8043.