It was a huge month for the U.S. players, both in Hawaii and across the country.

LPGA TOUR


For the first time in recent history, a U.S LPGA Tour player is the number ONE player on the LPGA Tour. Christie Kerr won the LPGA Championship and took over the coveted spot on the Tour and in the world of women’s golf. Kerr is the first American to claim the No. 1 spot in the Rolex Rankings, according to LPGA.com and she is the third in as many weeks. Jiyai Shin of South Korea and Ai Miyazato of Japan just a couple weeks ago held the top spot and the battle for supremacy isn’t over. Retired players Lorena Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam stayed at the top until they left the game.

“It means a tremendous amount,” Kerr said about the No. 1 ranking.  “It's something that I've wanted my whole life, I worked for my whole life.  I take great pride in being the top American.”

“I said earlier in the week it's great to be No. 1, but I just got there.  I'm there now, but I have to prove that I deserve to be there.  So there is still a lot of work ahead.  It feels awfully good right now.”


How does Kerr do it? The one word I hear over and over again is “Focus”. Scary “focused” when she gets into the zone. Nothing distracts her. Plus she works extremely hard on her game. And this year it is certainly paying off.


Cristie Kerr was an amateur prodigy who turned professional at the age of 18. She started her career on the Duramed Futures Tour in 1996 and debuted on the LPGA Tour the following year but didn’t do well. She found herself at Q School in the fall of 1998. It took Kerr 5 years to win her first event, the 2002 Longs Drugs Challenge.

Looks like patience and perseverance are two more of her attributes.

THE OTHER MIYAZATO

In case you were wondering, this is one of the young ladies who was chasing Christie Kerr the final two days.  Most of us have heard and know Ai Miyazato. This is Mika Miyazato.


“The Golf Club” guest and author Christina Kim was showing strong form despite back trouble. She was T25 with 8 other players. And I want to thank Kim for sending out a tweet thanking Wegman’s for being the tournament sponsor and doing such a great job as sponsor.

Hawaii’s Michelle Wie, ranked 7th on the money list at last check on the LPGA Tour, finished 19th.


Do you think it’s time she found a different coach? Just asking.


CURTIS CUP


The U.S. team won hands down with two Hawaii players on the team. Both Stephanie Kono and Kimberly Kim, her second appearance on the Curtis Cup team, were happy to be part of that winning team.


Friday was a huge day for the two Hawaii players, when captain Noreen Mohler put Kono and Kim together in the Saturday Four-Balls after Kono won in Saturday Foursomes playing with Jennifer Song.


The USA won every match played on Saturday.


Kimberly Kim will be playing in the US Women’s Open and then, we don’t know. She has left University and there is no official word on whether she plans to turn professional. Stephanie Kono continues her work at UCLA.

Wrap up by Rhonda Glenn, USGA, in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts:

“The USA defeated Great Britain and Ireland, 12½-7½, in the 36th Curtis Cup Match at the 6,247-yard, par-70 Essex County Club, clinching the Cup when Jennifer Johnson made a 2-foot putt at the 14th hole.



GB&I won four of Sunday’s eight singles matches, but the effort wasn’t enough to overcome Saturday’s 8½-3½ deficit.

The USA has now won 27 of the biennial matches that began in 1932. GB&I has won six times, the last in 1996.
Three matches were tied.



Minutes before the winning putt, the two teams traded points when the USA’s Alexis Thompson defeated GB&I’s Sally Watson, 6 and 5, and GB&I’s Danielle McVeigh edged Jennifer Song, 3 and 2.

The Curtis Cup totals stood at 9½ to 4½, and the USA needed at least a half-point to win.


With Jennifer Johnson’s ball resting against high fringe at the 14th green, she made a superb chip and holed her putt for a par. It sealed a 5-and-4 victory over Rachel Jennings of GB&I and secured the needed 10½ points for the United States.



“It was the highlight of my amateur career, so far. It was cool,” Johnson said of clinching the winning point.



Noreen Mohler, captain of the USA team, said her team’s victory was a continuation of Saturday’s play, when the USA swept six matches. “Yesterday was huge,” she said, “We just continued making the putts.”



Johnson and Thompson were the only undefeated players this week. Thompson won four matches and halved one. Johnson, who sat out Saturday’s four-ball matches, won three and halved one. McVeigh was the top point-winner for GB&I with 2½ points against two losses.



Thompson, 15, was overpowering in her match with Watson, hitting long tee shots and frequently firing at the flagstick. Thompson won the first hole with a par and was 4 up after nine holes. With the usual match-play concessions, she was two under par for the match.



McVeigh, the longest hitter on the GB&I team, used her power and superb touch on the greens to take early control of her match with Song. She went 1 up with an eagle on the 457-yard, par-5 fifth hole after hitting a 5-iron to the green and holing a 20-foot putt. She won the eighth with a 60-foot birdie putt. Her bogey won the ninth after Song’s drive bounced sharply right into the high fescue grass, starting Song on a trail to a double-bogey.
’

McVeigh won the 13th with a par to go 4 up. Song won the 15th with a birdie to cut the margin to three holes. They halved the 16th, ending the match.



“That’s what I went out to do, play well, and try to filter it down to the rest of the team,” McVeigh said.



GB&I’s other three wins came when Lisa Maguire edged Kimberly Kim, 1 up, and her twin sister Leona Maguire defeated Tiffany Lua, 2 and 1.

Holly Clyburn defeated Stephanie Kono, 2 and 1 for the fourth GB&I singles point.

The USA claimed its remaining two points by 4-and-3 margins when Cydney Clanton defeated Hannah Barwood and Jessica Korda defeated Pamela Pretswell.



GB&I Captain Mary McKenna said her team remained upbeat, “They tried their best out there and to halve in singles (matches) was superb. We will rise again.”

US AMATEUR PUBLIC LINKS

Just a week after the Curtis Cup victory, 5 Hawaii players were playing in the US Women’s Amateur Public Links. Stephanie Kono and Kimberly Kim both played their way into the  round of 16, after Kim opened the first qualifying day with a tremendous round of 66. She didn’t earn medalist honors but showed her game is coming on strong.

TRAVELERS


We’ll be seeing Bubba Watson at the SBS Championship. Watson, who was a very charming guest of “The Golf Club” radio show back in February, won his first title on the PGA Tour at the end of June.


One reported told of tears welling up in Watson’s eyes as he embraced his wife following the victory. Wouldn’t surprise me. There has been a lot of pressure on Watson to live up to his promise considering his incredible power off the tee. His drives averaging close to 320 yards. But the short game is where you win it and at the Travelers, it all came together.


Imagine watching your shot minutes after you’ve played it on the course, on the television. That was the case here for Watson as instant replay shows just how close he came to going in the cup.

US OPEN

Despite all of the focus Tiger Woods gets going into a major, and criticism, he didn’t play as poorly as you’d think after listening to the pundits. He ended up T4 with Phil Mickleson. Not bad for someone most thought was not on his game. For Woods, that still may be the case. But the bottom line: the winner at the US Open at Pebble Beach? Irishman Graeme McDowell



McDowell was looking like the winner going into Saturdays round and then along came Dustin Johnson and Tiger Woods. Woods shot a 66 and jumped up the leaderboard.  Johnson was still in control of the US Open until the last round. He couldn’t hear me yelling “Not the driver”….Why do some of these guys pull out the driver?

And a Frenchman, Gregory Havret, who gave McDowell a run for his money when Johnson disintegrated and Mickleson and Woods couldn’t put a round together, came very close

Tiger Woods, and most anyone who’d listen, talked about the bumpy poa greens at Pebble Beach. He was a little upset with himself for leaving his putts above the hole on the final round, “Putt luck” is what he called it. But his knowledge of the grass is most interesting.


Despite the poa greens, McDowell held on for the win by two strokes over Havret. It wasn’t a spectacular round. An even par on Sunday gave McDowell the win. Never underestimate the power of par.


It’s July. This month we’ll be looking at beautiful St. Andrews for the Open.

MEMORIAL


British star Justin Rose took home the trophy at the Memorial. And then didn’t make it into the US Open. The Memorial is played after the US Open entry deadline, even for PGA Tour event players. And Rose didn’t qualify at his US Open qualifying site. Some said that was a United State Golf Association snafu, speculation fueled when the young Englishman was also leading in the early going the following week at the Travelers.


102ND MANOA CUP


David Fink, now playing for Oregon State, walked away the victory at the 102nd Manoa Cup at the Oahu Country Club. For someone who was just hoping to do well in the qualifying round, he certainly surprised himself. As he told me on “The Golf Club” radio show, with little practice before the event, he was taking it one round at a time. That was pretty obvious when he initially decided to be on “The Golf Club” the Saturday of the Manoa cup finals. I laughed…chided the young man…telling him, if he is going to play in the Manoa Cup, he is going to visualize himself winning. He can’t be planning on being on my show the day of the finals. Happy to say, he was teeing off in the final against defending champ T.J. Kua at the same minute I was starting “The Golf Club”. He joined the show the next weekend and did a very fine job “co hosting” the show.

While I was doing the Saturday show on the Manoa Cup final day, watching the leaderboard on the Hawaii State Golf Association website, it was surprising to see how strong he was playing. His opponent, defending champion TJ Kua had been fighting his way up the ranks but Fink was going 4 up in the first holes and staying there. The tournament, match play, finished on the 29th hole with Fink winning 8 and 7.  But before the close, the 28th hole was something to behold. Both players made eagle. Fink holed his shot from the bunker and Kua from just off the green.


TURTLE BAY GOLF FEST AND SET SCRAMBLE

Amazing 102 golfers played in the first SET Scramble in Hawaii. SET means Same Exact Time. On the tee, the whole team tees off two at a time. On the green, the team putts two players at a time. In between, it’s all four players at a time. And with two teams teeing off on the same hole, (yes, 8 people), the other side keeps score. So no cheating.

The team of Bob Wilhelm, Fred Camit, Jeff Walters, and Paul Lupeituu won the gross division of the S.E.T Scramble Golf Tournament will be held on the George Fazio Course.  Their team score of 61 was two shots better than the runner-up team of Jimmy Labuguen, Ray Garo, Ian McLean, and Daniel Chong who shot 63.  


In the net division (pictured bottom), the team of Schyler Murakami, Andy Okita, Greg Okita, and Aaron Bumanglang who shot a net 57.  This event was a qualifier for the S.E.T. Scramble, which is a national tournament.  


The winning teams advance to the Quarter Finals that will be held in September in Las Vegas.

The next SET Scramble is going to be played at the Oahu Country Club. Call Reagan Lee in the Pro Shop to sign up. It’s on Monday, July 26th. Let you friends know.  You could be playing in Las Vegas at Coyote Springs.

SET Scramble is the brainchild of Dave McCracken, the man who created the Skills Challenge 18 years ago.

HAWAII STATE JUNIOR GOLF ASSOCIATION


The Hawaii State Junior Golf Association (HSJGA) concluded the second and final round of the 2010 Callaway Junior World Qualifier at Waikoloa Beach Resort – Kings’ Course.

Just in the Boy’s 15 to 17 age group, Michael Fan, Aaron Kunitomo, Lorens Chan, Seungjae Maeng, Alex Chiarella and Ryan Kuroiwa are headed to the World Championship in San Diego.

It was another long and hot day for the 160 HSJGA junior golfers.  The Boys 15/17 age division played well into the early evening the day before and was only able to finish a 6-hole round.  Regardless of yesterday’s circumstances, the 15/17 boys teed off on the final day with their heads held high and completed the 18-hole round like pro’s.   

Notable scores include Aaron Kunitomo of Lahaina who shot a  six (6) under par 66 and Michael Fan of Honolulu shot an impressive five (5) under par 67!  Both boys play in the 15/17 age division.

The Callaway Junior World Golf Championships will be held in San Diego, CA from July 10-16, 2010


ALOHA SECTION PGA JR CHAMPIONSHIP


Justin Keiley of Haiku and Cyd Okino of Honolulu won the 2010 Aloha Junior PGA Championship Friday, June 25, at Turtle Bay Resort in Kahuku, Hawaii.  Dave & Buster’s sponsored this year’s event locally.  By winning the boys' and girls' divisions respectively, Keiley and Okino qualified for the 35th Junior PGA Championship, Aug. 2-5, 2010, at Sycamore Hills Golf Club in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

All expenses are paid for the PGA of America.

Keiley, 17, posted a final-round 68 for a two-day total of 138 for a one stroke victory over Alex Chiarella of Makawo.  Okino, 16, fired a final-round 71 to come from behind and tie first round leader, Eimi Koga of Honolulu.  During a sudden death playoff, Okino defeated Koga on the first hole to win the championship.

The Junior PGA Championship is open to one boy and one girl champion from each of the 41 PGA Sections, winners of the nine PGA Junior Series events and a few other national junior tournaments conducted throughout the year.  Additionally, special invitations are extended to select junior golfers who have not yet reached their 19th birthday and who have not yet started college.

“The Golf Club” is on the air on Oahu on “The Jewel” at 99.5 FM Saturday morning from 7am until 8:30am.
On Maui, you can listen on KONI FM, 104.3, on Kauai, KTOH 99.9 FM and in Hilo, on KPUA AM 670.

Prefer a podcast? Pick us up at iTunes. On your smart phone? Get the StitcherRadio application and listen in.

Thank you for your Mana, and may you hit the sweet spot every time.

Aloha,
Danielle

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