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Waipahu’s Allisen Corpuz will get a shot at playing Augusta next weekend after being invited to golf in the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
The event was announced a year ago and established “to inspire greater interest and participation in the women’s game by creating a new, exciting and rewarding pathway for these players to fulfill their dreams.”
Corpuz, a junior at USC, is part of an international field of 72 amateurs. The first two rounds are next Wednesday and Thursday — a week before The Masters — at Champions Retreat Golf Club. The field will be cut to the top 30, who play the final round at Augusta National Golf Club April 6.
The winner gets an invitation to the next five Augusta National Women’s Amateurs, the 2019 U.S. Women’s and Women’s British Opens, and USGA, R&A and PGA of America amateur championships.
NBC will broadcast the final round. Golf Channel will have highlights, live reports and news coverage all week, along with coverage of the the Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals, where Kahuku’s Mia Cepeda will compete.
Corpuz and sophomore teammates Alyaa Abdulghany and Jennifer Chang received invitations by being among the top 30 Americans in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Rankings at the end of 2018.
Corpuz won the state high school championship as a Punahou senior. She had four top 10s last year and was a WGCA All-America honorable mention. She tied for third at last year’s Canadian Women’s Amateur.
Earlier this month, the top-ranked Trojans won for the fourth time this season with a victory at the Clover Cup in Mesa, Ariz. Freshman Malia Nam (Kaiser) tied for seventh and Corpuz shared 30th. Aiko Leong, a Punahou alum who transferred to USC last season, was 11th playing as an individual.
Corpuz is currently 39th in the world amateur rankings. Punahou teammate Mariel Galdiano, a UCLA junior, is 16th. She accepted an invitation to play in this week’s LPGA Kia Classic, which starts today in Carlsbad, Calif.
Galdiano was a second-team All-American last year and has won twice this season. She was just named to the U.S. Arnold Palmer Cup team for the second straight year. The Bruins are ranked fifth.
HSGA offers rules workshops
Next month the Hawaii State Golf Association will offer another series of Rules of Golf Workshops, on the four major islands, to help people with this year’s new rules.
There are one-hour workshops for individuals, at Ko’olau (April 1), the HGEA office in Lihue (April 6), the Big Island Na Leo TV office in Hilo (April 8), Big Island Queens Marketplace at Waikoloa (April 9), in Kahului (April 9) and at Kapalua Golf Academy (April 22).
Cost is $5 for HSGA and Aloha Section PGA members and $20 for non-members. The fee includes a 2019 Rules of Golf Book-Players Edition.
All those sites, with the exception of Kapalua, will also have more detailed three-hour sessions, designed for officials and administrators, on the same day. Cost is $10 per division for members and $30 for non-members.
Visit hsga.golf or call 589-2909 for more information and to register. Deadline to sign up is the Monday before the workshop.
Hoakalei hosts BMW qualifier
Registration is open for the BMW Hawaii Ultimate Golf Tournament, May 17-18 at Hoakalei Country Club.
Regional qualifiers move on to the BMW U.S. Cup Final at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina. Seven Hawaii winners of the U.S. Final have gone on to compete in the BMW World Final.
To get more information and register, email Ed Kageyama at golf@bmwhawaii.com.
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