Whoa, where did the time go?

The last time I saw Mari Chun, she had won the 2005 Jennie K. Wilson Invitational just before graduating from Kamehameha Schools. Now, she's graduating from Stanford on June 14 after playing four years with the Cardinal women's golf team, the last two as co-captain, with plans to turn pro later this summer.

Unlike that other Hawai'i golfer at Stanford, Chun put her dream of playing professional golf on hold by honing her skills on the collegiate level instead. It's a decision she hasn't regretted, says Chun, who majored in Japanese with a focus on linguistics.

"It's definitely a great experience. College gave me an opportunity to grow up as a person and as a golfer," Chun said by telephone. "The demands in collegiate golf require you to be able to apply information about a new course and be able to find a way to play your best game. Also, learning to manage your time and your energy to be able to play well and also complete all of your school work. I feel these lessons can take me through the rest of my life, help me become a better person and be more efficient with my time."

According to Chun, there's also the camaraderie of team competition in collegiate golf, an otherwise individual sport. She got an inkling at Kamehameha where, besides being a straight-A student, she captained the girls' golf team in her junior and senior years.

"I definitely learned a lot about myself, and teamwork on a larger scale than high school because you're constantly traveling with teammates who come from so many different areas. For me, that was a great learning experience, figuring out how to get the team to get together, how to put aside any individual differences and get it to work cohesively."

Except for a neck injury that set her back and made her final year at Stanford more of a challenge, Chun thought it went fairly well as she posted a 74.3 scoring average. The highlight was a tournament at Sahalee Country Club, hosted by the University of Washington, when Stanford won the team title and Chun took individual honors. "That was a great feeling, to win team and individual," she said. "That's when our team was entirely healthy."

It'll be a busy upcoming week for Chun. Today she's trying to qualify for the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links and on Monday, the U.S. Women's Open. Both qualifiers are in Stockton, Calif., but at different courses. Her mom, Lani, flew up to caddie for her.

"I'm looking forward to them," Chun said. Making it to both championship events, and the U.S. Women's Amateur, is part of her summer agenda to work on her game and get ready for the LPGA Qualifying School right after she turns pro.

"I need to use the summer wisely to help prepare my game for the next level," she said. "I have a lot of work cut out for me to get my game to that level. But I'm excited at the new challenge."

With diploma in hand, Chun says she can devote all her attention to golf. "I'm looking forward to see what happens when I do so."

That's in keeping with her goal of achieving her "dream job," which is to make it as a professional golfer. It first came to mind about eight years ago when she began taking lessons from local pro Kevin Ralbovsky, according to Chun. She knows how hard it is to make it as a professional golfer. That just saying you're going to turn pro isn't enough. But she wants to give it a shot.

Who can blame her? Stanford was "kinda like a dream school," Chun said when it offered her a golf scholarship four years ago.

Now friends of Mari Chun at the Pearl Country Club want her to continue striving for that dream job. They plan a golf fund-raiser June 30. For more information, call Taylor Kaaina at 392-0349, Bruce Maeda at 285-7027, Herb Suenishi at 455-5760 or Walter Ho at 368-4780.

"I don't know too much about it because they're doing all the work," Chun said. "I'm really grateful. It's really sweet of them to try and help me get a kick-start and support me. Uncle Taylor has always been part of our family, has always supported me since I was like, gosh, 4 or 5."

Time sure flies.