Stephanie Kono speaks two languages and still never knew the meaning of "struggle" on the golf course until this year.

In a game as goofy as golf, that’s saying a lot.

One of Hawaii’s most gifted and gracious junior golfers has been home since Saturday after the longest year of her life. Eleven months ago, in a series of strange events that said as much about the LPGA’s inability to communicate as it did about Kono’s exceptional game, the three-time UCLA All-American easily claimed her 2012 playing card at the Final Qualifying Tournament.

It was a dream come true a year too early. Kono had planned to play the Symetra Tour — the LPGA’s developmental tour — after she helped the Bruins try to defend their 2011 NCAA title, as so many college seniors had done before. But the tour told Kono and her coach, repeatedly, it had changed the rules and she didn’t have the option of withdrawing after she made the cut.

By the time the LPGA realized it was wrong, Kono was playing so well she all but had her playing privileges. She gave up her final semester and chased her dream.

The golfer who won every meaningful girls’ and women’s title in Hawaii, played on the victorious 2010 U.S. Curtis Cup team, captured four college titles and was a regular on the final weekend of USGA championships did not make a cut all year.

Kono broke par twice in 2012 and her scoring average is 76 — six shots more than in college. It was as if she was playing 19 holes.

"I felt a little overwhelmed," the 2008 Punahou graduate admits.

Then she volunteers a lesson learned.

"In a sense it was a blessing to be on the LPGA Tour because I’d never been pushed out of my comfort zone before," says Kono, who gave a kids clinic for sponsor Ka‘anapali Wednesday. "It was the first time I had to work it out by myself. Obviously I was challenged a ton. Before, in junior golf and national golf and college … for the first time I was uncomfortable a little bit and it was good for me."

Her huge extended family of followers hopes that is true. As Kono prepares to return to final qualifying Nov. 28-Dec. 2 in Florida — with Sacred Hearts graduate Ayaka Kaneko — she speaks of "showing some courage" and "embracing little personal victories" on the course and off. She sounds as happy and optimistic as ever, even while admitting all that held her back this year was … herself.

"It’s been nice to take time off golf and just practice, get in a lot of good repetitions," she says. "I see some really good shots. It’s kinda weird. My swing feels as good as ever, but it’s been really hard to do things I know I can. Basically, my mental game is holding me back. I’m the one standing in my way. I need to work with that."

She has seen sports psychologists and keeps working with those who have coached her all those years when she lit up junior and collegiate golf. Until the last 11 months there had never been a hint of a slump, in a game that grinds on minds like few others.

"I’ve never gone through a long period not able to produce good scores," Kono acknowledges. "As the year went on it wore on me. It seemed like it got harder with every tournament and not easier. I don’t feel like my swing has changed. Nothing has changed, not my coaches, anything in my swing or anything in my putting. Nothing.

"All I did was get a little stronger physically. That’s really it. Nothing has changed. It is not a physical thing."

That only makes it more elusive. Kono cares enough to keep trying to grab the cure. She knows she has nothing to lose and is not seeking perfection. Her game is good enough, if she can only go back to her basics and plug it back in.

"I totally have the belief in myself that I can produce the shots I want and make putts," she says. "That’s what I learned this year. I had so much fun out there. I loved it. I want to be out there."

And in the hunt, again, the way it always was before.