What transpired at Pebble Beach Golf Links during the recent U.S. Women’s Open wasn’t lost on Mary Bea Porter-King, who helped found the Hawaii State Junior Golf Association.
On Friday of U.S. Women’s Open week, Hawaii native and 2014 U.S. Women’s Open champion Michelle Wie West bid farewell to the game after missing the cut. Two days later, fellow Hawaii native Allisen Corpuz was crowned champion of the first U.S. Women’s Open held at Pebble Beach.
“As one of our HSJGA alumni retires (Wie West), another one rises to the top.”
Corpuz, 25, shot a final-round, 3-under-par 69 (72-hole total of 9-under 279) to claim the 78th U.S. Women’s Open by three strokes over Charley Hull (66) and Jiyai Shin (68).
Corpuz, a graduate of the University of Southern California, became the first American since Brittany Lang in 2016 to hoist the Harton S. Semple Trophy and only the seventh in the last 23 years.
The member of the victorious 2021 USA Curtis Cup Team also joined a long list of players to make the U.S. Women’s Open their first win on the LPGA Tour, a group that includes World Golf Hall of Famers Annika Sorenstam and Laura Davies.
“My mind is racing,” said Corpuz, the first to win a women’s major title at Pebble Beach. “This is really a dream come true. It was something I had dreamed of, but at the same time kind of just never really expected it to happen.”
Composed and comfortable in the cauldron that is a final round of a major championship, Corpuz was simply stellar on the greens, registering 10 one-putts, including a clutch 16-footer for par on the par-3 12th. She played the final 11 holes on what is Pebble’s most difficult stretch in 1 under par. That included birdies on Nos. 10, 14 and 15 without any putts longer than 10 feet. She also was the only player in the field to post all four rounds under par.
All of this occurred as Hull, a 27-year-old Englishwoman, made a Sunday charge reminiscent of what Meg Mallon produced 19 years ago when she shot a 65 to beat Sorenstam and claim her second U.S. Women’s Open title. Hull matched the week’s best round with six birdies and an eagle offset by two bogeys. Starting the day seven strokes back, Hull came out sizzling with an eagle on No. 2 and birdies on the third and fourth holes. She later holed a 30-footer on No. 16 that sent a roar through the property.
That early statement sent a message to Corpuz and Hataoka in the day’s final pairing.
Corpuz was more than up to the task with birdies on Nos. 1 and 3. She’d finish the job to become the 20th first-time major champion in the last 21 contested.