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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Wednesday, March 30, 2005

HOMEGROWN REPORT
Nebraska's Ito driven to succeed in golf, life

 •  Wrestlers from Hawai'i win at nationals

By Leila Wai
Advertiser Staff Writer

Nebraska senior Merynn Ito was 9 when she played in her first golf tournament.

Nebraska senior Merynn Ito, a 2001 'Aiea High graduate, says golf has helped make her "a really well-rounded person."

Scott Bruhn • University of Nebraska

"My husband signed her up for golf lessons without her knowing, and she was upset," her mother, Melanie Ito, said. "She only had a 9-iron that was cut down (to fit her). She spent two months practicing before her first tournament.

"She had never been on a golf course. Come the day of the tournament, my husband bought her a new set of clubs. From the first hole, she was hitting the ball to the left, and to the right, and left, right. That's how it was throughout the nine holes. She came in dead last."

Ito, a 2001 graduate of 'Aiea, overcame her first rocky event to earn a spot on the Nebraska golf team, which competed in the 15-team Mountain View Collegiate last weekend.

Ito placed eighth in the tournament with 217, the second-best three-round total of her career. She shot a 3-under-par 69 in her final round Sunday, which tied for the second-best round of her career.

But Ito's current success doesn't entirely erase the memories of her tournament debut.

"I barely remember that, I just remember I shot some horrendous number like a 77 or something (for nine holes)," Ito said. "And I was mortified. I just remember being really scared, but my parents were there with me. I guess it did motivate me. I was like, 'These other girls are so good,' even though they weren't, and I was like, 'I know I can do it, I know I can be like them.' That's what got me going."

Melanie Ito said her daughter vowed to come in first in her next tournament, and "she came in first for the rest of the sessions."

"That just shows her perseverance," her mother said. "She's the type that wants to see the results she puts into it. It just goes well with her personality."

Ito won the state high school championship in 2000 as a junior, the same year she won the Hawai'i Junior PGA title, and received scholarship offers from Nebraska and Colorado State.

She wanted to leave Hawai'i and her "comfort zone," and committed to Nebraska, partly because of its journalism department.

Ito's drive has also led her to success off the field; she's a two-time National Golf Coaches Association Scholastic All-American and a two-time first team Academic All-Big 12 selection.

Looking back on her career in golf, Ito said it has helped mold her life.

"The closer I get to being done, the closer I get to playing in my last tournament, I think back further and further to how I started," she said. "Starting when I was 9, it was my whole life, it was all I knew.

"We stopped summer vacations when I started playing, but I feel like I benefitted from it. Golf is a different type of sport, it takes discipline and you have to be really self-motivated to do it. That really carried over to other aspects of my life and helped me to become a really well-rounded person."

Even after she finishes her college career, she would still like golf to be a part of her life. She said she would like to pursue a career in journalism, as a copy editor, preferably for a golf publication.

And, of course, she still plans on playing.

"I don't have any plans to turn pro or anything like that," Ito said. "I feel like if I did that it would be a new pressure in my life. It would be a livelihood and I would be playing to support myself and that would take the fun out of it.

"I know for sure I'll still play in amateur tournaments, and if I'm in Hawai'i, I'll for sure play in the local ones."

Reach Leila Wai at lwai@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2457.