‘Iolani, with four freshmen and senior Marissa Chow, won its first David S. Ishii Foundation Girls State Golf Championship on Wednesday at Wailua Golf Course on Kauai. Punahou junior Kacie Komoto soared to the individual title on the wings of an eagle and all kinds of vindication.
Punahou had won the past five girls titles, with Komoto instrumental in the last two. She went into the final round three shots behind first-round leader Rose Huang, one of those precocious ‘Iolani freshmen.
Komoto, who won the State Women’s Stroke Play Championship at 14, caught Huang with an eagle on the 10th hole and a birdie at the 11th. Both came on putts from some 12 feet.
Komoto parred out, sinking a 6-footer on the last hole, and Huang’s bogey on the 16th became the difference. The freshman just missed a 30-foot birdie putt on the 18th.
It was a stark contrast from the final hole of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu championship less than two weeks ago. Komoto had a birdie putt to win, but five-putted in the wind at Turtle Bay.
"I’m not going to lie, that five-putt did get to me. It would get to a lot of people," said Komoto, who has verbally committed to Northwestern for 2013. "But that’s golf. You’ve got to learn to get it out of your head, don’t let it mess with you."
Komoto’s 2-under-par 71 was the only subpar round of the day. She finished at 1-under 145, while Huang shot 75—146. Defending champion Eimi Koga (75), a Moanalua junior, shared third with Waiakea junior Ciera Min (76) at 149. Kalaheo’s Monique Ishikawa (77—150) was the only senior in the top five.
Chow, a three-time ILH champ who will play for Pepperdine in the fall, helped mentor her young teammates this year. Their work paid off this week with Huang, Keilyn Ing (78), Chow (80), Hana Furuichi (80) and Ayumi Sakamoto (80) all finishing in the top 16. Their winning score was 14-over-par 454 after a final-round 233.
"Their games are a lot more mature than normal because of the HSJGA," ‘Iolani coach Glenn Inouye said of his freshmen. "And they’ve improved quite a bit from the last few years. They won the ILH intermediate championship, so we knew they were coming up, but we had no idea how it was going to be with four freshmen. Yesterday (Tuesday) they played great and they just hung on today.
"Marissa had never had a golf team per se, we’d never had enough players to make a team with her. This year might have been just the second time we had a girls team in states. Marissa is a senior, so we were hoping to get one for her before she left and it worked out. It was a pretty close-knit group and she really took the lead."
Punahou matched ‘Iolani’s 233 on the final day for a 461 total to take second by a shot over Waiakea (234). Baldwin (239—466) was fourth and Kauai (251—504) fifth.
