One of Hawaii’s best and brightest college golfers made a rare appearance at this week’s 56th annual Waialae Women’s Invitational. Kimberly Tom was not intimidated.
Tom, who grew up playing Waialae Country Club, broke from a first-round tie with Anna Jang by shooting a 5-over-par 77 Tuesday to defend her title. Tom was six strokes better than last year and won by five, with Jang (82) and Young Sook Kim (78) tying for second at 158.
The difference came on Waialae’s slick greens, according to Jang, a Princeton senior who graduated from Punahou five years after Tom. "She putted really well," Jang said. "She made everything."
"I really learned to love putting," Tom said. "In high school I was not a great putter. … My way of putting is not typical of what you see on the PGA and LPGA tours. I really tweaked it and it worked."
Shanna Chang, a 14-handicapper, won the tournament’s Low Net Championship. She shot 81-84 for a net total of 137.
Tom has played four golf tournaments since graduating from Punahou in 2004, and has won two. She gave college golf a shot at the University of San Francisco and also played the Jennie K. Wilson Invitational once. Neither felt comfortable.
Sakamoto going for another title
Nicole Sakamoto will go after her third straight State Women’s Match Play Championship — and sixth consecutive Hawaii women’s major — this week at Oahu Country Club.
The tournament opens with qualifying this morning. The first round is at 1 p.m. Quarterfinals are Thursday from 7 a.m., followed by semifinals at 1 p.m. The championship, scheduled for 18 holes, begins at 7 a.m. Friday.
Sakamoto graduated from James Madison days before winning the Jennie K. Wilson Invitational in May. It was the only Hawaii major that had eluded her. She has won State Match Play and Stroke Play the past two years.
There are 20 golfers in this year’s Match Play, including reigning state high school champion Kacie Komoto, about to start her senior year at Punahou, and former state champs Anna Jang and Cassy Isagawa, who earned second-team All-America honors her freshman year at Oregon. Washington sophomore Cyd Okino, who has won two Match Play titles, is also playing, along with 16-year-old Laura Hoskin from New Zealand.
State Stroke Play is July 31-Aug. 2 at Mid Pacific Country Club. That field includes Sakamoto, Okino, Jang, Isagawa and ‘Iolani sophomore Rose Huang, who was second at Jennie K. and this year’s high school championship.
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"It took me awhile to get back into competitive golf and really love the game," said Tom, who is "slowly taking over" her father’s business. "It’s a lot of pressure and I’m not a pressure player. I really like to just go out and have fun."
Jang has thrived in the pressure golf and academics provide at Princeton. She won the 2007 state high school title as a sophomore. Her junior golf accomplishments "helped a ton" when she applied to the Ivy League school, which does not offer athletic scholarships.
As a freshman, she was ninth in the Ivy League Championship. Last semester, the ecology and evolutionary biology major studied abroad in Africa. There was no golf, and little else — a stark difference from playing the Waialae Women’s Invitational to bond with her mother.
"When I came back from Africa it made me really thankful for all the things I have," Jang said. "I’ve definitely grown a lot."
She graduates next year and wants to give pro golf a shot — a stark difference from this year’s Waialae champion.
"In the beginning I wanted to be a vet over a doctor, but I also want to go on tour," Jang says. "If I don’t, I’ll regret it too much."
Jang will golf in the Hawaii State Match Play Championship, which begins today at Oahu Country Club. She also plans to play the State Stroke Play Championship, starting July 31 at Mid-Pacific Country Club.
