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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, August 14, 2009

Komoto, Corpuz in final at OCC


    By Ann Miller
    Advertiser Staff Writer

     • Woods plods to 1-shot lead
    Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser
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    If the second day of the Hawai'i State Women's Golf Association Match Play Championship had gone much longer, today's finalists would have been up past their bedtime.

    Kacie Komoto, the Punahou freshman who just won the HSWGA Stroke Play Championship, will play Punahou sixth-grader Allisen Corpuz in the 7 a.m. championship at Oahu Country Club. Corpuz, 11, would be the youngest winner in tournament history, eclipsing Cyd Okino's record by a few months.

    Komoto, 14, held off University of Hawai'i senior Erin Matsuoka (Punahou 2006), 1-up, in yesterday's first semifinal, which ended at 6:20 p.m. A few minutes earlier, Corpuz, coming off her third U.S. Kids Championship in four years, outlasted Punahou junior Alina Ching, 2 and 1.

    The Punahou foursome all fought through morning quarterfinals. Corpuz, 3-down after 11 holes, beat 2008 finalist Nicole Sakamoto, 2 and 1. Matsuoka defeated Kaili Britos, 2-up, and Ching got by Xyra Suyetsugu, 5 and 4.

    The semifinalists teed off again just after 1 p.m., all with daddy-caddies and immense patience. It poured for the first six holes. The rain stopped while they waited for two groups to clear the seventh green. Playing behind a member-guest tournament, it took the semifinalists 2 hours, 45 minutes to make the turn as they waited on every shot.

    Okino and Sakamoto played their 15-hole final in a little over 2 hours last year.

    None of it fazed Corpuz. Ching won their third hole to tie it and wouldn't win another for more than 3 hours, and she had to stick her approach shot within two feet to do that. Corpuz played soggy OCC in 1-under, sinking a 12-foot par putt on the scary 17th green to win it.

    "A lot of putts just dropped today," Corpuz shrugged.

    Matsuoka chipped in at No. 17 to cut her deficit to one and force Komoto to slog through the 18th. Matsuoka's approach came up short and her desperation chip missed. She conceded after Komoto left her birdie putt on the lip. They too were remarkable in the rain and interminable waiting, both shooting even par.

    Komoto believes what she learned in winning Stroke Play — "just go shot by shot" — will help immensely today when she plays with a golfing buddy.

    Matsuoka didn't even start golf until she was Komoto's age and her game has blossomed since she started working out off the course. This week her putting kept her in matches, but a bad putt on the 12th and a bad tee shot on the 16th proved the difference.