Sure, the main — and really only — story in the U.S. Open at Bethpage this week is Tiger Woods. Will he or won't he win, that is. But it sure would have been nice to have a local sidebar. No such luck as Dean Wilson and Parker McLachlin, the two Hawai'i guys on the PGA Tour, didn't qualify. Neither did Tadd Fujikawa.

But thanks to former Big Islander Kimberly Kim, at least there will be a local angle in the 64th U.S. Women's Open next month at the Saucon Valley Country Club in Bethlehem, Pa. Michelle Wie, an LPGA touring pro from Hawai'i, didn't survive the sectional qualifying along with amateurs Stephanie Kono, Mari Chun, Ayaka Kaneko and two-time state champion Kristina Merkle.

Kim was the medalist in a 66-player sectional qualifier Monday at Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, Calif., the only one to better par with a 36-hole score of 143, that included four birdies on the final nine. It'll be the fourth straight appearance in the U.S. Women's Open for Kim, who became the U.S. Women's Amateur youngest champion at 14 years, 11 months in 2006. It's still a record for the event, which will be held for the 108th time in August at the Eugene Country Club in Oregon.

Kim2, as she's called, has been sort of a poster girl for the USGA since her dramatic victory in the U.S. Women's Amateur at the Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in Oregon. She has represented the U.S. in the Women's World Amateur Team Championship in South Africa, the Junior Solheim Cup in Sweden, and last year went 3-1 in her matches as the Americans won the Curtis Cup at the Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland.

Little did her parents, Soo Young and Arlene Kim, realize how far their daughter would travel after their decision to send her to Arizona several years ago from their home in Pahoa on the Big Island, to better her golf game. It's a decision that has paid big dividends. She's now a five-time first-team Rolex Junior All-American.

Kim, who just graduated from Xavier College Preparatory in Phoenix, plans on playing collegiate golf at the University of Denver this fall.

"I really wanted to go to OSU (Oklahoma State University) but then the coach resigned," said Kim by telephone from Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., where she is playing in the AJGA Rolex Junior Girls Championship. "(But) I like the team (at Denver) a lot and I liked the courses we saw on the visit," she added. It helped, too, that her older sister, Christine, attends University of Colorado.

Kim had considered the University of Hawai'i at one point. "I didn't think it was the right thing to do. Although their program is improving a lot, it's just their schedule, if I wanted to be ready to turn pro. I don't think I would be (ready)," said Kim.

Turning pro remains Kim's goal, but not as urgent as it was "when I was younger," she said. "I don't think my game is ready and there's a lot of growing up to do."

It was the reason Kim decided to amp up her academics the past year, not playing as much as she usually does. Golf was secondary, according to Kim.

"Like, two or three years ago, golf was like, everything. Basically everything revolved around golf but it's much different now," Kim said. "School is important, which is why I'm going to college. I'm excited."

That's why she was so surprised by her showing in the sectional qualifying.

"I really wasn't expecting to make it at all because I haven't been working that hard on my game. It was a bit of a shocker," Kim said.

She plans on getting in a lot of practice and competitive golf before she turns 18 in August. Next week she heads to Massachusetts for the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links and, later in August, the U.S. Women's Amateur. She's exempt from the local and sectional qualifying in both USGA championships as a result of her victory in the 2006 U.S. Women's Amateur.