Jackie Pung’s life story was an only-in-Hawaii golf tale so much larger than life that it crossed the Pacific Ocean.

Pung, born Jacqueline Nolte Liwai in 1921, died March 15 at Life Care Center of Kona. She was 95.

“Hawaii’s First Lady of Golf” was inducted into the inaugural class of the Hawaii Golf Hall of Fame in 1988 and also is in the Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame.

After winning the 1952 U.S. Women’s Amateur, she became Hawaii’s first female pro and won five LPGA titles, with 14 runner-up finishes. Her golf career was eminently memorable for those successes, one stunning and ultimately heartwarming mistake and her innate ability to share Hawaii with folks from everywhere.

Her father Jack was president of the Hawaiian Men’s Golf Club. He introduced his daughter to golf at 6 when she caddied for him, creating the hapu’upu’u mound with water and sand so he could tee off back when there were no tees.

She started golfing at 9 with her father and his friends, using their old clubs, taking lessons from Guinea Kop at Ala Wai, and practicing her short game at Oahu Country Club — near the family home — “until someone chased me out.”

Pung won her first Hawaii championship at 14 and played on Roosevelt High School’s boys team. In 1938, she won the first of four Territorial Women’s Amateur Championships. One came when she was eight months pregnant, after marrying fireman Barney Pung, who had been a member of Duke Kahanamoku’s swim club.

Jackie took time off to raise her family, working in sporting goods at Sears, but traveled to two of the first U.S. Women’s Amateurs on the mainland. She returned from a four-year retirement to win the 1952 Jennie K. Invitational, then raised enough money to go to a third U.S. Women’s Am.

That was the charm. She won in Portland, Ore., and danced the hula after every match, charming the fans, but upsetting some U.S. Golf Association committee members.

USGA President Totton P. Haffelfinger, however, was one of those charmed. When he handed her the trophy, he asked her to bring it and “that hula” with you to the 1953 championship.

Instead, she was named the 1953 Los Angeles Times Woman Athlete of the Year and Fred Corcoran, a promoter in the early years of the LPGA Tour, talked her into turning pro.

Pung, backed by sponsors, didn’t hesitate. She won a then eye-catching $7,500 the first year and was a popular rookie with her aloha shirts and hula on the practice green. She learned the dance as a child from her grandmother and often compared it with golf because of the footwork and hip movements.

She played 11 years with many of the LPGA founders, like Patty Berg, Betty Jameson and Mickey Wright. She often traveled with daughters Barnette and Sonia in the summer.

“My sister and myself would travel with her alternate summers,” recalls Barnette “Barni” Fischer. “It was a whole different life, the only way my mom could see us because she barely came home. She was so committed to her sponsors and the tour.

“My mother was the most remarkable, brave, courageous, strong woman. For her to have achieved all she achieved was purely on her self-determination. I look back on her career and she felt so bad for not being there for us all the time. But as mother and I often discussed, her career would not have been possible if not for her mother, who agreed to take care of my sister and I to give my mother the freedom to go live her dream.”

Two U.S. Women’s Opens figured prominently in Pung’s career. In 1953, she lost an 18-hole playoff to Betsy Rawls. Four years later, at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y., she lost to Rawls again after signing an incorrect scorecard.

The score was correct and would have given Pung the championship. But Jameson, who kept Pung’s card, had marked par on a hole where she actually had bogey. Pung missed that in the excitement and was disqualified.

Rawls was upset at the way she won and Jameson was in tears. Pung was shocked, but took her deep disappointment with dignity. The fans were so taken with her reaction they collected $3,500 for her — much more than Rawls won.

Pung came home in 1965 to become a teaching pro at the new Mauna Kea Beach Resort. She co-designed and opened Waikoloa Village in 1971. She returned, after stints that included working for Parks and Recreation and three years as Rainbow Wahine coach, to teach into her 80s. The LPGA named her a master professional.

One of Pung’s favorite playing partners was the late Rev. Abraham Akaka. Maybe today they can finally play together again.

Pung is survived by daughter Barnette (Bruce) Fischer of Waikoloa; sister, Audrey Hong of Honolulu; brother, John Liwai of Waikoloa; four grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren, eleven great-great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by husband Barney Kapaakea Pung and daughter Sonia Leilani Case.

Services will be 10 a.m. April 22 at St. James Episcopal Church in Waimea, with visitation at 9 a.m. The family requests aloha attire be worn. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in Jackie’s name may be sent to Hospice of Kona, P.O. Box 4130, Kailua-Kona, HI, 96745. Condolences can be sent to the family c/o Barnette Fischer, PO Box 383333, Waikoloa, HI, 96738.