Open sectional at Waialae

Hawaii has its own sectional qualifying Monday for the U.S. Women’s Open, which will be at Blackwolf Run in Wisconsin this July. A field of 23 will play at Waialae Country Club, with at least one woman advancing to the Open.

Golfers play 36 holes, teeing off from 7:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Entrants include Miki Ueoka, Nicole Sakamoto, Marissa Chow, Mari Chun, Allisen Corpuz, Kimberly Kim, state high school champion Kacie Komoto and 13-year-old Mariel Galdiano, who qualified for the Open last year.

Hawaii has at least six golfers with a chance of playing next month’s U.S. Open at The Olympic Club in San Francisco. Four are from Maui.

Makawao’s Sam Cyr, Honolulu’s Alex Ching and Haiku’s Justin Keiley got through local qualifiers last week on the mainland, Cyr firing a 67 in Texas to get one of 11 spots. Kirk Nelson (Kihei) and Garrett Okamura (Wailuku) qualified Saturday on Maui.

Sean Maekawa, from Pauilo, won Tuesday’s local at The Club at Kukuiula, surviving a three-way playoff with Matt Pakkala and Bronzen Winters.

All advance to one of 11 sectional qualifiers across the mainland June 4. Top qualifiers that day get to San Francisco. Qualifying began with 9,006 entrants, fourth-highest in U.S. Open history.

Ching in NCAA tournament

Pepperdine freshman Alina Ching is the only Hawaii golfer in next week’s NCAA Championships.

The Punahou graduate helped the Waves (279—875) finish third in the West Regional Saturday, two strokes behind top-ranked UCLA and sixth-ranked LSU. Pepperdine will be making its 11th championship appearance in 14 years when the tournament starts Tuesday at the Vanderbilt Legends Club in Tennessee.

Baldwin graduate Cassy Isagawa, a freshman at Oregon, had the highest individual finish of any Hawaii player, but her team came up one shot short of extending its season. The Ducks finished ninth in the Central Regional, a shot behind Arkansas. The top eight teams in each regional advanced. Isagawa, ranked 10th nationally, tied for 14th individually at 77—224.

Cyd Okino (Washington), Kelli Oride (Notre Dame) and Kristina Merkle (Tulsa) also did not advance with their teams.

Wie in Sybase Match Play

Honolulu’s Michelle Wie plays Mina Harigae in an opening round match at today’s Sybase Match Play Championship in New Jersey. The two are in the Kathy Whitworth Division, with Vicky Hurst, Angela Stanford and Cristie Kerr, who lost to Suzann Pettersen in last year’s final.