Komoto claims second straight

A tiny field and terrible semifinal weather threatened to tag team the 2014 Hawaii State Women’s Golf Association Match Play Championship into submission. Kacie Komoto and Alina Ching refused to give in.

Komoto became the seventh player in the event’s 44-year history to defend her title when she held off Ching 3 and 1 Friday morning at Oahu Country Club.

In the past two finals, Komoto is a bogey-free 10 under par in 34 holes on her home course. She relentlessly wore down and wore out Cassy Isagawa last year and Ching on Friday. Both have been ranked in the Top 100 nationally as they head into their senior seasons at Oregon and Pepperdine.

Komoto is about to start her sophomore season at Northwestern. She has won three Hawaii women’s major titles and hopes to get a fourth at the Stroke Play championship next month.

She fell into an early hole against her former Punahou teammate Friday, but never blinked or came close to bogey. After Ching won the second with a two-putt birdie — both two-putted the opening hole for birdie — Komoto evened the match with birdie on the next par-5 (No. 6), then took the lead for good with birdie on the ninth.

She went 2 up when Ching three-putted the 11th for the first bogey of the match, which was only 90 minutes old. Komoto dropped a slick 10-foot birdie putt on the next hole for 3 up.

"It was pretty tough," Ching said. "Her putts, they always dropped. Her putting is impeccable right now. I need putting lessons."

Ching did not drop a meaningful putt — or anything outside 2 feet — until the 15th hole, and Komoto matched that birdie.

Putting was the only difference in the match. Neither player missed a green in regulation and they barely missed a fairway, sometimes landing so close you could throw a blanket over both golf balls.

With the match dormeyed, Ching finally won another hole, hitting to 6 feet on the par-3 16th. But, from close in on the next hole, she had a difficult choice with her approach shot after Komoto was safely on the green … again.

"The pin placement was kind of tough, cut right off the front," Ching said. "I could either be short and have to putt from off the green or try to land it near the pin and hope that it stopped. But it didn’t stop."

She charged the birdie putt from 30 feet and it rolled to the front fringe, where she missed again. It was only the second bogey of the day and Komoto defended with a simple two-putt par.

"I made several mistakes, but today I did a good job making it a par — scrambling," she said. "My putting was pretty good. That’s something I’ve been working on quite a while now."

The week started with just seven players. Hawaii had nine qualify for the U.S. Women’s Public Links this week and the Hawaii State Junior Golf Association moved its Oahu Tour Series event up a week, so it was also a conflict. Another handful of girls played at Junior Worlds this week.

None of that mattered when the championship came down to two of Hawaii’s most successful HSJGA graduates and collegiate players, who played a nearly flawless match.

"It was a grind the whole time," said Ching, who didn’t play past the 13th hole the first two rounds. "At the beginning, you had to win with birdie. We were both making pars all day. On the front nine, the only time someone won a hole was with a birdie. I knew I had to play well and make putts today, but my putts weren’t dropping."

Komoto got them to fall, then left Friday night for the Canadian Women’s Amateur in Ontario after proving — again — she could compete and beat Hawaii’s best.

"The competition in Hawaii, in general, is really strong," Komoto said. "That’s the reason why a lot of us who come out of Hawaii do pretty well in college and even after that."