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Posted on: Thursday, December 13, 2001
Around the Greens
A hard-to-beat foursome
• Senior PGA tickets on sale
• This week's Golf Tips
• This week's Holes in One
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| Former Waiakea High golfer Camie Hoshino will be trying to qualify for the Japan LPGA Tour next year.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
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By Bill Kwon
If those at the Pearl Country Club last Sunday thought they'd never seen a better wahine foursome playing a round of golf, they were right.
The four were local professionals Christel Tomori, Camie Hoshino, Pam Kometani and Lenore Rittenhouse.
They got together for a friendly match and plan to do so again before going their separate ways.
The idea of playing a round together was Kometani's, an LPGA pro who took 2001 off to have a baby.
"Lenore and I keep in touch. I knew she would be in town," said Kometani, whose married name is Miyasato. She has been working with both Christel and Camie, helping them with their game.
"It was fun. We knew it would be," Tomori said. "We all wanted to get together because Lenore was in town."
"It was the two youngsters against the two old, ah, two experienced golfers," said Hoshino, who's affiliated with the Taiheyo Country Club in Gotemba, Japan, while trying to qualifying for the JLPGA Tour.
So who won?
The youngsters, Hoshino and Tomori. Although both must wonder where the time went. Sunday was Christel's 26th birthday. Camie's 29.
It seemed as though it was only yesterday that both were junior golf standouts who went on to earn college scholarships — Hoshino at Southern Cal and Tomori at the University of Oregon.
"We had to push out everything on the 18th hole," said Tomori, who'll be returning for her third year on the SBC Futures Tour.
Hoshino made par in the bestball match, enabling them to escape.
"I played well. They were speechless that they were getting beat by us old ladies. They escaped," Rittenhouse said.
Rittenhouse, the former Lenore Muraoka, is visiting her parents in Manoa with her husband, Tom, and 9-year-old son, William. It's part of a holiday and birthday homecoming for Lenore, who turned 46 yesterday.
This was her 22nd and final year on the LPGA Tour, according to Rittenhouse, who competed in only nine tournaments in 2001. No more competitive golf, she says, unless she gets invited to some senior women events.
She's busy home-schooling her son and working part-time at an animal hospital near her home in North Carolina. Ever a softy for homeless dogs, she just adopted a fourth.
"I'm in good shape, taking the two older dogs (including 14-year-old "Lady") on a walk and then the two younger dogs on a jog every day," Rittenhouse said.
Kometani has put her LPGA career on hold to care for her 5-month-old son, Maxwell. She thought it was a cool name when she first heard it. It's the only name she and her husband Lance agreed on, Kometani said.
Recently, she has been spending her days off working with Tomori and Hoshino.
"I'm trying to give them a little insight on what it's like on the tour," Kometani said. "Both are talented, but everyone has talent on the tour. I'm trying to help them so that their game can be more consistent, week in and week out."
Tomori and Hoshino, both Waiakea High School grads, hope to take their game to the next level.
For Tomori, it means the LPGA Tour. She missed the cut in the final stage of the LPGA Qualifying the last two years, so it means a return to the Futures Tour where she has had some success.
For Hoshino, it means another shot at the Japan tour. She didn't make the November qualifying for the JLPGA tournaments from March through June, so she'll be trying again in March for the remainder of the 2002 season.
"It sucked," Hoshino said about her past year. She played in only five tournaments, all on sponsors' exemptions. "Pam's trying to help me with my swing, make it more compact and more consistent."
But she's enjoying her Japan experience. She's an assistant pro at the Taiheyo CC, which is paying for her living expenses. Besides golf instruction, Hoshino is helping women golfers with their English.
Bill Kwon can be reached at bkwon@aloha.net
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| Golf notices |
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Dec. 14-15 — Jackie Pung's 80th Birthday Celebration Golf Tournament. At Waikoloa Golf Course. Tournament begins at 8 a.m. Format: Four-person scramble, full field, full shotgun, $5 mulligan, four maximum mulligans. Fee: $55 per golfer. Information: (808) 883-8445.
Jan. 31 — Heisman/Hula Bowl Golf. At the Dunes at Maui Lani. Shotgun start at 12:30 p.m. Format: three-person scramble, paired with Heisman, NFL player or coach. Fee: $450 per team. Information: Francis Yamada, 526-2266 or Hula Bowl Maui, (808) 871-4141.
Feb. 21— Dawg Day Maui Island Golf Classic. At the Wailea Gold Course. Husky Dinner Celebration at the Maui Tropical Plantation. Guest speaker University of Washington football coach Rick Neuheisel. Tee times will be assigned. Information: UW Alumni Association at 1-800-AUW-ALUM or visit www.UWalum.com.
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