WAILUA — Punahou’s Kacie Komoto used a back-nine eagle and birdie to win the 2012 Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association’s Girls Golf Championship by one stroke over ‘Iolani’s Rose Huang Wednesday afternoon at Wailua Golf Course. ‘Iolani took the overall
WAILUA — Punahou’s Kacie Komoto used a back-nine eagle and birdie to win the 2012 Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association’s Girls Golf Championship by one stroke over ‘Iolani’s Rose Huang Wednesday afternoon at Wailua Golf Course.
‘Iolani took the overall team title with a two-day stroke total of 454, besting second placed Punahou by seven strokes. The Kaua‘i Red Raiders finished fifth overall in the team competition with a combined total of 504.
Komoto entered the final round three strokes behind Round 1 leader Huang. Komoto and Huang both shot one-over on the front nine, leaving Komoto nine holes to make up the three stroke deficit. Komoto picked up two strokes with an eagle on hole No. 10 and followed it up with a birdie on No. 11 to create a tie at the top of the leaderboad. Komoto pared out the rest of her round and had to wait for Huang — who was playing two groups behind — to finish her round. As Komoto prepared for a potential playoff by working on her short game, Huang bogeyed hole No. 16 to fall a stroke behind. After Huang pared the final two holes, Komoto was awarded the title.
Kaua‘i’s Taylor Viquelia started the day in third place and only two strokes behind the leaders but struggled her way to a nine-over 82 for a two-day total of 155. Fellow Red Raider Deasza Tomas jumped Viquelia in the standings with a four-over 77. Tomas’ two-day total of 154 was good for a sixth place tie. Kapa‘a Naea Oda also carded a two-day total of 154. Oda struggled early and shot five-over on the front nine, but recovered on the back by shooting one over to finish the round with a 79.
While Viquelia and Tomas both shot higher on Wednesday than they did in the first round, the Kaua‘i pair of Sabrina Barrier and Jenae Park improved their scores by over 10 strokes each to improve Kaua‘i’s second round team score over its first round.
Barrier had the biggest improvement for the Red Raiders. After carding a 114 on Tuesday, Barrier improved by 15 strokes by carding a 99. Park improved upon her first-round 103 by shooting a 92 for a 11 stroke improvement.
The HHSAA Boys Championship will be held at the Wailua Golf Course beginning Tuesday.
• Tyson Alger, sports writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 237) or by emailing talger@ thegardenisland.com. Follow him on twitter.com/tysonalger.
