SPRINGFIELD, PA. >> China’s Muni He made a 35-foot birdie putt on the 22nd hole to beat qualifying medalist Mariel Galdiano in the first round of the U.S. Women’s Amateur.
The 17-year-old He got the last of the 64 spots in match play Wednesday morning in a playoff, holing a 22-foot birdie putt on the second extra hole. The 18-year-old Galdiano, from Pearl City, dropped out a day after setting the championship stroke-play qualifying record at 9-under 133.
She became the third straight medalist to fall in the first round, following Bethany Wu in 2014 and Angel Yin last year. Galdiano forced extra holes with a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th. She made the only two bogeys of the match, the first on the par-4 14th to drop into a tie and the second on the par-5 17th to fall a hole down.
Hawaii’s Kacie Komoto also lost her first-round match, falling 4-and-3 to Hye-Jin Choi after falling three holes behind by the turn. Choi was the third seed.
Corpuz finishes second in Canada
After leading for two rounds, Hawaii State High School champion Allisen Corpuz ended up second last week at the Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship.
The tournament was played in Nova Scotia. Mariel Galdiano, Corpuz’s Punahou teammate, was the 2015 champion. Ariya Jutanugarn won the title in 2012 and Brooke Henderson in 2013. They are now ranked Nos. 2 and 3 in the world.
Corpuz, who will be a freshman at USC this fall, set the women’s competitive course record with a second-round 65 and led by three at the halfway point. She shot 29 on her opening nine and double-bogeyed her final hole for the 65.
Corpuz dropped to second with a third-round 72 and stayed there with a 70 the final day.
Kaiser junior Malia Nam (69—280) tied for ninth and Punahou graduate Kacie Komoto, about to start her senior year at Northwestern, got a share of 14th at 71—285.
South Korea’s Hye-jin Choi won by four. Choi is No. 14 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings and was low amateur at the U.S. Women’s Open.
Hawaii team contends in California
Led by Allysha Mae Mateo and Shon Katahira, Hawaii finished fifth and sixth at last week’s Junior America’s Cups.
The girls played at Del Rio Country Club in Modesto, Calif., and shot a 694 team score to tie Washington for fifth. Southern California won with 659, followed by defending champion Mexico, Arizona and British Columbia. There were 18 teams in the field from the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Mateo, a Maryknoll junior, tied for 11th individually with rounds of 74-73-81. She finished 14 shots behind the medalist. Keila Baladad (81) and Miki Manta (75) earned a share of 23rd at 233. Claire Choi (83—247) was 52nd in a field of 72.
The boys’ played their 44th Junior America’s Cup at Guadalajara Country Club, in Mexico. Katahiro was eighth individually. His three-day score of 2-under-par 214 was six shots out of first.
Evan Kawai (223) was 41st, Remington Hirano (224) 45th and Jun Ho Won (225) 48th.
The Hawaii team shot rounds of 217-217-220 to finish 15 shots behind first-place Washington.
Lee among leaders at Optimist
Honolulu’s Grace Kyung Lee took third in the Girls 13-14 division at the Optimist International Junior Championships. Her age group finished Friday at PGA National, in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
Lee shot rounds of 72-74-75 to finish eight shots out of first. The co-medalists were from Argentina and Thailand. Lee was the only American in the top eight.
Hawaii had two golfers in the Top 50 in Boys 14-15s, with Gunwook Baiki (74—232) earning a share of 34th and Davis Lee (81—237) tying for 49th.
Earlier, Honolulu’s Ye Won Ham (81—249) and Ale Buntin-Nakamura (81—249) tied for 20th in Girls 10-12 and Pearl City’s Noah Koshi (82—242) was 34th in Boys 12-13.
The oldest age divisions play 72 holes and finish today.
Mililani’s Sawada picks up check
Mililani’s Jared Sawada, fresh off a win at the Aloha Section PGA’s Nike Four-Ball Championship, started fast to pick up a 30th-place finish at the $170,000 Long Beach Open in California.
The 28th annual tournament ended Sunday. It was played at the El Dorado and Skylinks courses.
Sawada opened with rounds of 68-65 and had a share of 10th after a third-round 72. He dropped 20 spots with a 73 Sunday.
Teraoka, Won win Pearl Junior Open
Aj Teraoka and Isabelle Won captured the oldest age divisions at last week’s Pearl Junior Open. The Oahu Junior Golf Association major was held at Pearl Country Club.
Teraoka shot 2-under-par 70 — the flight’s only sub-par score — to finish at 145 and win the Boys 15-18 division by two shots over Ray Kim. Both shot 75 in the opening round.
Won fired rounds of 78-74 to win the Girls 15-18 by a stroke over Kamie Hamada, who was 13 shots better than the third-place finisher.
Other division winners were:
13-14—Kelsey Ota (75—148) and Jake Sequin (70—146); 11-12—Rachael Wang (74—147) and Joshua Chung (71—143); 10-under—Sydney Papke (81—157) and Taiki Marsh (78—151).
