After winning her fourth consecutive Hawaii State Women’s Stroke Play Championship on Thursday, Nicole Sakamoto can be mentioned in the same breath as Joan Damon. There is even an asterisk to distinguish Sakamoto from the Hawaii Golf Hall of Famer.
They are the only two who have won more than two Stroke Play titles since the tournament began in 1962. Damon captured the championship in 1963 and ’64. The event took a four-year hiatus, and Damon won from 1969 to 1971, giving her five in a row.
Sakamoto was just coming into her own at James Madison University in 2011, when Damon died at 86. Now the Kalani graduate is the only golfer to win this event four straight years.
It is a prodigious accomplishment for someone who left Hawaii for college as a constant contender and is now heading to the first stage of LPGA Qualifying. She has won seven of the last 10 Hawaii women’s majors she has played — and is being compared to one of the greatest Hawaii golfers of all time.
Sakamoto smiled at the thought, then grew serious. "It is," she said, "an honor."
She began the final round birdie-birdie at Mid-Pacific Country Club, converting from inside 5 feet on both.
"I guess it was the adrenaline," she laughed.
That gave her a one-shot advantage over University of Washington junior Cyd Okino, who led after the first two rounds. Okino caught her with birdie at the fourth, but from the time Sakamoto launched her second shot over the water at the par-5 fifth and two-putted for birdie, no one would catch her.
Her advantage was three over Okino at the turn. No one else would get within five. Sakamoto bogeyed three of the last five, but birdie putts inside 10 feet at Nos. 13 and 16 — "the crucial putts I needed" — kept Okino at bay.
Sakamoto finished with a 1-under-par 71 for a 217 total. Okino (73) was a shot back after playing brilliantly on the back nine.
"After 10 and 11 … those two putts didn’t drop and the one at nine lipped out, I was just kind of ticked off at my putting. I wasn’t making anything," said Okino, who was also second to Sakamoto in 2011. "I was striking the ball really well all day, but …I can count probably seven putts that should have been made."
On the final hole, Sakamoto’s approach shot stopped short and the big breeze blew Okino’s right of the green. Sakamoto stuffed her chip shot within 2 feet and Okino went all in with hers, the birdie try that would have forced a playoff sliding by the hole, giving Sakamoto the one-stroke victory margin.
"That was my best chip shot," said Sakamoto, who admitted losing track of Okino’s score early on the back nine. "The last five holes were just horrendous. Being a little nervous really showed this year. I left four putts short. I wasn’t aggressive with my putts."
Okino takes renewed confidence back to college, and the knowledge that her score would have won this title from 2007 to 2010. Two years ago, Sakamoto tied Stephanie Kono’s tournament record of 212. Last year she shattered it.
This time, after a year spent working and training to prepare for Q-School, Sakamoto did precisely what she had to do to win — something she has become adept at the past few years. She was looking for confidence going into Q-School. This week she got it.
"We both played well the whole tournament," said Sakamoto, who has known Okino more than half her life. "I knew I had to shoot under par today to have a chance. I guess the golfing gods were with me today."
Kauai’s Kelli Oride (76—222) took third for the second straight year. St. Francis senior Hansol Koo (77—226) was next, followed by 12-year-old Aneka Seumanutafa (79—229), who enters seventh grade at ‘Iolani this month. She was one of eight golfers —in a field of 21 — not old enough to drive.
Red Raiders junior Rose Huang shot the day’s third-best round — 75 — to claim seventh behind Columbia sophomore Monique Ishikawa (77—230).
