Hawai'i's Stephanie Kono and Kimberly Kim will represent the U.S. Tuesday and Wednesday at the fourth biennial Ping Junior Solheim Cup. It will be played at Bastad Golf Club in Sweden, preceding The Solheim Cup at nearby Halmstad Golf Club.

The invitational is patterned after the Solheim Cup, which pits American players from the LPGA against the finest European players. The American Junior Golf Association picks its best female juniors (ages 12 to 18) to play against the top 12 juniors from Europe.

The Americans won the first and third Junior Cups, both held in the U.S. Europe captured the 2003 event, also held in Sweden. Kim, who now lives in Arizona, played in the 2005 Cup.

The event is a two-day competition featuring three sets of matches. Four-ball and foursome matches will be played Tuesday, with the 12 singles matches the final day.

Kim, Kono and Honolulu's Ayaka Kaneko, are 2-3-4 in the current Golfweek/Titleist girls performance index. The team was picked based on the AJGA's Polo Golf Rankings and the index, as of July 20 — before Kaneko reached the final of the U.S. Girls Championship.

U.S. captain Donna Andrews added two captain's picks.

Kim, who turns 16 this month, is a three-time Rolex All-American and the 2006 U.S. Women's Amateur champ. Kono, a 17-year-old Punahou senior, is a two-time Rolex All-American who won the 2005 Westfield PGA Junior Championship and 2005 Harder German Junior Masters.

PHENGSAVATH PREVAILS

Joe Phengsavath opened with a 4-under-par and rode it to a two-shot victory at last weekend's Hapuna Roundup. Phengsavath (70—138) beat David Ishii (70—140) and Stephan Carlsmith by two shots.

Low pro in the team competition was Brian Sasada, with a team score of 327, two shots ahead of Lee Hardy's team.

Phengsavath won $1,000 and Sasada $900.

KUA COMES UP SHORT

Kamehameha Schools senior TJ Kua was on the wrong side of the bubble at last weekend's Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach. Kua, from Lihu'e, shot 67-68 with Champions Tour partner Dave Eichelberger to finish at 135 and fall a shot short of advancing to the weekend with the top 22.

Harold Varner, a 17-year-old from Gastonia, N.C, and Morris Hatalsky won the pro/junior competition with scores of 62-65-66—193.

Kua is a two-time runner-up at the David S. Ishii Foundation Hawai'i state high school championship. He is also Ishii's nephew. Kua and Eichelberger, who lives here and is a member at Oahu Country Club, played at Cypress Point last Wednesday to warm up for the event.

Kua earned the Hawai'i sponsor's exemption to play in the tournament.

HOOPS ON THE LINKS

The fourth annual Hawai'i Celebrity Golf Classic will feature former NBA stars such as Moses Malone, Sam Jones, James Worthy and Jo Jo White, and members of Hawai'i's "Fab Five" team from the 1970s, including Bob Nash, Dwight Holiday, Jerome Freeman and John Penebacker.

The tournament will be Oct. 1 at Honolulu Country Club. It benefits Lokahi Giving Project. For information on sponsorship or participation, contact Trudi Cannon (551-9426).

NOTES

Entries are still open for next month's HSWGA Senior Women's Championship at Barbers Point. The tournament will have a noon shotgun start Sept. 24. All amateur women from HSWGA clubs who are 50 or older, with a maximum handicap index of of 34.3, are eligible. Applications are available at www.hswga.org or by calling Lisa Kajihara at 808-281-2051.

Nanea, a private course in Kailua, Kona that opened in 2003, is 44th in Golf Magazine's 2007 ranking of the Top 100 Courses in the U.S. The article is in the September issue. Nanea was also ranked 76th in the Top 100 Courses in the World. No other Hawai'i courses made the lists, compiled by a 100-member panel representing 15 countries.

The GAL (Get a Life) tournament will be Oct. 25 at Pearl Country Club. It raises money to support the third annual GAL 2008 Women's Conference. Last year the conference helped Army wives, Victory Ohana, Pregnant Teen Foster Home in 'Ewa Beach and Kekulani Gardens low income housing. The conference also offers workshops designed for young teenagers "to guide them in making 'Positive Life' choices." The benefit has a 12:30 p.m. shotgun start. Format is four-person scramble and fee is $150 per person, which includes golf, snacks, dinner and an opportunity to enter a Million Dollar Shootout. For more information, contact Lonnie Felise (347-2645) or Jeannie Lalau (671-5378).

Ko Olina Golf Club will close Sept. 24 to aerify its greens. Special rates will be in effect Sept. 25 to Oct. 1, because greens may be sandy and bumpy.