LANIKAI — Kristina Merkle played beyond her years, her peers and any golfer in her way yesterday at the Jennie K. Wilson Invitational.

The Moanalua freshman won the first Hawai'i women's major of the year by five shots over 12-year-old Kyung Kim.

The rest of the wind-blown field was at least 10 back at Mid-Pacific Country Club.

Merkle's 1-over-par 73 was three better than anyone on the final day and one of just seven rounds in the 70s. Her three-day total was 5-over 221.

"I was nervous all day," said Merkle, who hardly looked it except on the 18th tee, when she asked her cart driver if it was the last hole and fist-pumped the affirmative answer. "I wanted to play good. My mom wanted this trophy as a Mother's Day gift so I tried really hard. I wanted to make my dad (Nagorski pro Lou Merkle) happy too."

Merkle plays in her first state high school championship this week and turns 15 next month. She is the youngest Jennie K. winner since Stephanie Kono in 2003 and extends a teen tear that goes back more than a decade with three notable exceptions: Former Rainbow Wahine Kari Lee Williams and Bobbi Kokx won in 1999 and 2000, and Michelle Wie became the youngest champion in 2001, at 11.

Desiree Ting, who shared third with Kokx yesterday, was the only golfer in the final foursome who could drive a golf cart. With caddies not allowed, members of the tournament committee ended up driving Merkle and Cyd Okino, the 12-year-old state match play champion who took fifth.

Sanae Vierra, who plays A Flight, was sixth at 78-235. By way of comparison, that score would have won this tournament 16 times — all before 1992. The Jennie K. began in 1950 and is always played at Mid-Pacific. Par was cut to 73 in 1998 after the eighth hole was shortened.

Merkle was meticulous in the final round of her first adult win. Instead of wilting under the pressure, she grabbed her driver and used it as a hammer to drop on the rest of the field. She hits it long — an average of 260 yards — and straight and has no fear.

She went to the 297-yard uphill 17th — the one with the skinny fairway and hazards right and left — with a five-shot advantage and still took out her driver. Merkle blasted it dead center, 65 yards from the pin.

It was no different than any other hole. She opened with bogey, but pulled into a tie for first when Kim double-bogeyed. Merkle then birdied three of the next four holes and refused to relent. Ting felt Merkle was in control from the second hole.

"She hit a lot of good shots, steady," Ting said. "Her game is pretty good all-around — her length, her putting is good, too. I was surprised."

Merkle resisted the urge to find out what anyone else was shooting, with the exception of a look at the leaderboard at the turn. She led by three.

"That kinda helped my momentum," Merkle said. "It made me want to play harder so I could keep the lead."

Kim felt her short game slipping away from the opening hole, yet was grinning the entire round and came up with her second top-five Jennie K. finish in as many tries. When it was over, however, she had to fight back tears.

"You've just got to forget about the bad holes," she said. "I just concentrated the first two days, didn't worry about the scores.

"Today I should have played it safe. I just went for the greens and it didn't work out."

Tomorrow, Merkle tees it up at Turtle Bay in the first round of the state high school girls championship. Suddenly, a freshman winning does not seem far-fetched.

"I think this will help me in my future," Merkle said. "At least I've actually had the experience of going through a final round in a tournament with such tradition. ... This will help me with college, too. This is a big tournament, especially for women."

Lately, it has been especially big for girls with grown-up golf games.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.