This introduction figures to hit just a little bit different.
When Allisen Corpuz steps into the tee box at around 7:21 a.m. Thursday for her first swing of the Dana Open in Sylvania, Ohio, the official starter will likely announce her turn with some version of “From Kapolei, Hawaii, 2023 U.S. Women’s Open Champion …”
“It still feels pretty unreal,” Corpuz said Tuesday of having that distinction linked to her name for the remainder of her golf career and beyond.
Corpuz will play her first two rounds in Ohio alongside now-fellow major champions Lydia Ko and Minjee Lee, and two days after claiming the Open title, the Punahou graduate was still absorbing the magnitude of her weekend in Pebble Beach, Calif.
“I don’t think it’s fully sunk in yet,” she said in a phone interview from Highland Meadows Golf Club. “But I think it’s starting to.”
Corpuz made the trip from California to Ohio on Monday, less than 24 hours after sinking a par putt on the 18th green of one of the world’s most storied and picturesque golf courses to join Michelle Wie West as Hawaii’s only two winners of a major golf championship.
She admittedly hadn’t gotten much sleep since then. But who could blame her, really?
After signing her scorecard for a final round of 3-under-par 69 to close the 78th U.S. Women’s Open with a total of 9 under and three shots clear of the field, Corpuz shared the awards ceremony with her parents, Marcos and May, then went through her various media obligations and signed autographs until close to 9:30 p.m. Sunday.
She finally had a chance to savor the moment with a late-night dinner with family and friends before an early wake-up to hustle over to the Midwest for the next stop on the LPGA Tour schedule.
Along the way, she spent the travel time catching up on the flood of “probably 500” messages via text and social media, the latter of which included a Twitter shout-out from President Barack Obama and an extended Instagram “cheehoo” from Wie West.
When she arrived at the course Tuesday for a bit of practice, more media requests awaited her as well as a warm reception from the rest of the field.
“It’s been really awesome to get the support from everyone,” Corpuz said. “A lot of people are surprised I’m out here, but looking forward to having another good week.”
The 25-year-old will have a break in her schedule next week, when she’ll perhaps have a chance to more fully reflect on her journey from a 5-year-old growing up alongside Kapolei Golf Course to Open champion.
Her path included a decorated junior career, a high school state championship as a Punahou senior and All-America status at USC, all leading to qualifying for the LPGA Tour in her first attempt. She made 17 cuts in 24 starts with three top-10 finishes as a tour rookie in 2022 and tied for fourth in this year’s first major, the Chevron Championship, in April before her breakthrough in the first U.S. Women’s Open held at Pebble Beach.
“It’s been really awesome. I’ve been really lucky to grow up playing in Hawaii and to go to USC,” she said. “I had the right opportunities, and just really grateful and really proud to represent Hawaii.”
Open week began with tributes to Wie West’s career as she made her farewell LPGA appearance. It ended with another Punahou product hoisting the Harton S. Semple Trophy after Corpuz maintained her composure through the back nine on Sunday to extend her lead under the pressure of a major championship.
“It kind of felt like a bit of an out-of-body experience for the whole day,” said Corpuz, who credited her performance to “just really staying committed to everything.”
“As nervous as I was, I just felt really calm and really comfortable out there.”
Corpuz was attending Punahou when Wie West won the 2014 U.S. Open, a moment she referred back to in her post-tournament comments, and the opportunity to provide similar inspiration for Hawaii’s current youth golfers is a chief part of the payoff for her victory.
“It means everything,” she said. “I grew up looking up to Michelle and watching her win at Pinehurst, so it’s pretty surreal there are juniors in Hawaii doing the same thing with me.”
As for the immediate rewards, well, those are plentiful as well.
By claiming the $2 million winner’s check, Corpuz rocketed to the top of the LPGA Tour’s season money list with $2.48 million in earnings. She also jumped 23 places to No. 6 in the Rolex World Rankings and enters the week at No. 8 in the Race to the CME Globe, the tour’s season-long points race.
“It’s really cool. It’s not a position I thought I’d get to this quickly,” Corpuz said of the world ranking, “but really proud that I am there and just hoping I keep building on that.”
She’s also third in the Rolex Player of the Year standings and is in position to make her debut in the Solheim Cup at No. 3 in the U.S. standings. The top seven earn automatic spots on the 12-player U.S. roster that will take on Europe’s best in September in Spain.
“That’s been maybe my most important goal this year, trying to make the Solheim Cup team,” Corpuz said. “I just told myself as long as I play solid, I’ll make it, and hope to just keep up the momentum.”
The Hawaii connections at the Open included four players from the islands — Corpuz, Wie West, Marissa Chow (‘Iolani) and Allysha Mae Mateo (Maryknoll) — as well as Mary Bea Porter-King, a co-founder and longtime leader of the Hawaii State Junior Golf Association. Porter-King served as an official for last weekend’s tournament, and her presence added a full-circle element to Corpuz’s victory.
“Just really nice to see her and have her there,” said Corpuz, an HSJGA product. “I don’t think it can be overstated how much she’s done for Hawaii junior golf and Hawaii golf in general.”
While Corpuz headed off to her next event Monday, she left the Semple Trophy in the trusted hands of former Punahou and USC teammate Aiko Leong, who spent the weekend at Pebble Beach and drove the trophy back to Los Angeles, where Corpuz will pick it up next week.
Throughout her journey the support from the islands has added to Corpuz’s appreciation of the moment.
“I’ve heard from pretty much everyone,” Corpuz said with a laugh. “Even out on the course, (there were) people yelling Hawaii-related things to me while I played. It was really special.”
ON THE RISE
Hawaii’s Allisen Corpuz vaulted up the LPGA Tour rankings with her victory at the U.S. Women’s Open. Here’s where she stands on some of the key lists:
>> Rolex World Ranking: 6
>> Race to the CME Globe: 8
>> Official money: 1
>> Rolex Player of the Year: 3
>> U.S. Solheim Cup Points: 3
>> Rolex Annika Major Award: 1
