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HCC drive begins for new members

Posted on: Thursday, May 17, 2001

Jennie K. list is Hawai'i female golfers' honor roll

By Bill Kwon

The Jennie K. Wilson Invitational is a women’s golf tournament unlike any other in Hawai‘i. Once you win the Jennie K., it’s a title that stays with you.

Bobbi Kokx, the defending Jennie K. champion, also won the tournament 17 years ago as a soiphomore at the University of Hawai'i.

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“Wherever you go, someone introduces you as the Jennie K. champion, and you start to realize the prestige involved,” said Bobbi Kokx, after her victory in last year’s event.

Kokx will be defending her title this weekend at the Mid-Pacific Country Club.

Some of the other past Jennie K. champions in the tournament’s first 50 years?

They include Jackie Pung, Jackie Yates, Lori Castillo, Cindy Flom, Edna Jackola, Tura Kahaleanu Nagatoshi, Althea Tome, Debra Spencer and Joan Damon, who won the event a record six times. Recent champions include Sherrie Sue, Kari Williams, Lesly Ann Komoda, Nicole Horner, Pam Kometani, Anna Umemura and Kathy Cho.
Kokx’s victory last year came 16 years after her first Jennie K. title, which she won in 1984 as a sophomore at the University of Hawai‘i. But last year’s took on a more significant meaning, she said.

“It was my first tournament back after a long layoff,” Kokx said. “Winning was so unexpected. So it was more rewarding, especially knowing more about the history of the tournament and being a part of it.”

To Kokx, a teacher at Kihei Elementary School on Maui, winning the Jennie K. remains a singular honor. When she won in 1984, she was thrilled just to walk off with the state’s most prestigious women’s golf tournament, which is named after the wife of former Honolulu Mayor John H. Wilson.

“I just took things for granted then. Golf was the most important thing in my life at the time; that along with my studies,” Kokx said.

Umemura, who won the first of her three Jennie K. championships in 1995 as a 16-year-old Punahou School sophomore, is skipping the event this year. But she was so moved by the invitation to play that she messaged the Mid-Pacific women’s committee her regrets.

Though in town briefly for some badly needed “R&R,” Umemura apologized for not playing in what she called “such a fun tournament.” She was especially glad that this year’s Jennie K. will include some of the state’s precocious young golfers, including 11-year-olds Michelle Wie and Stephanie Kono.

Back in the late 1970s, an age restriction prevented an 11-year-old wunderkind named Kristl Caldeira, a two-time Junior World champion from KÅne‘ohe, from competing. Fortunately, the age barrier has been lifted.
“There is just so much young talent out there and they really need a format to compete with the best talent available, regardless of age,” wrote Umemura, who will graduate from the University of Tennessee this year.
Umemura remains thrilled with her 1995 victory — she also won in 1997 and 1998.

“The first one is always good. I was so excited because it was the first women’s tournament I ever won,” she said. “The one in 1997 also felt good because I came back from a wrist injury and became the first to win all three women’s majors the same year.”

For two former champions, the Jennie K. was the last amateur tournament they ever played locally before turning professional. So they never defended their only Jennie K. titles.

Pung, the first woman named to the Hawai‘i Golf Hall of Fame and the only living member of the original class of inductees, says that winning the 1952 Jennie K. title motivated her to continue her career in golf.

She was a mother of two young girls and had to work at Sears to help support the family, practically neglecting her golf game from 1948 to 1952. But she entered and won the Jennie K. that May.

“When I won, I told myself, ‘That’s it, I’m going,’ ” recalled Pung, who will be 80 on Dec. 13. That encouraged her to play in the U.S. Women’s Amateur that summer at the Waverley Country Club in Portland, Ore.

Pung went on to win the 36-hole final, 2 and 1, to become the first golfer from Hawai‘i to win a national golf championship.

Pung’s greatest moment in golf turned out to be her most anguishing when she was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard after winning the 1957 U.S. Women’s Open.

The total was correct, but the scorer put her down for a 6 instead of a 5.

Castillo, who’s married to Kapalua’s Gary Planos, went on to win three national titles, including back-to-back victories in the U.S. Women’s Public Links Championship in 1979 and 1980.

She still holds all three Jennie K. tournament records with her remarkable 1983 victory — a course record 8-under 66 (women’s par was 74) in the opening round, the 54-hole score of 216 and a 17-stroke margin of victory.

“I remember I shot a 66 and had a 13-stroke lead on Friday the 13th. Thirteen’s always been my lucky number,” said Castillo, who had just finished her senior year at Stanford after transferring from University of Tulsa.

She closed her remarkable round with an eagle-birdie-birdie finish.

The previous 54-hole record of 217 was set by Yates with her second straight Jennie K. victory in 1954 and Nagatoshi, who made it “Tura, Tura, Tura” with the third victory in 1970.

On Sunday in Lanikai, the winner of the 51st Jennie K. will enjoy a proud moment she’ll never forget. Or others, for that matter.

Bill Kwon can be reached at bkwon@aloha.net

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Notices

May 20 — O'ahu Junior Golf Association 2001 Players' Tour. Last player ability test for Juniors ages 7-17. For more info call Dennis at 235-5764 or O'ahu Junior Golf at 952-OJGA (6542).

May 26-27 — 27th annual Noenoe Invitational. At Volcano Golf and Country Club. Fee: $90 (VGCC Members) $110. Entry deadline is May 12. Entry forms are available at the Hilo Muni, Volcano Golf Course. Information: (808) 935-6155 or (808) 935-8953.

June 4 — Hawai'i Baptist Academy Athletic Booster Club Fourth Annual Golf Tournament. At Mid-Pacific Country Club. Three-person scramble. Fee: $125 per person, includes lunch and dinner. Information: Leighton Lee, 599-4444.


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