The LPGA Tour regulars from Hawaii made it to the weekend at Hoakalei Golf Club.
Former Punahou teammates Allisen Corpuz and Mariel Galdiano shot under par for the second straight day to make the cut comfortably at the Lotte Championship on Thursday.
Corpuz, a veteran in her fourth season on Tour, negotiated an uptick in wind on Day 2. The 2023 U.S. Women’s Open champion from Kapolei was even through her front nine but closed strong for the second straight day with three birdies on the back for a 3-under 69, good for 7 under overall and eight shots off the lead.
“Just another solid round. Made a few good birdie putts and just been hitting it well the last two days,” said Corpuz, who is tied for 12th. “Made a few really good up and downs for par coming in. … Really excited for the weekend.”
South Korea’s Youmin Hwang blitzed the West Oahu course with a 10-under 62 — by two shots the lowest round in the three years of the Lotte at Hoakalei — to claim a three-shot lead over Jessica Porvasnik and Akie Iwai.
Galdiano, a three-time HHSAA girls golf individual champion from Pearl City who went on to attain All-America honors at UCLA, birdied her final hole to go to 1 under for the day and 3 under overall. She sits in a tie for 40th heading into moving day.
Little has come easy for Galdiano, who earned her card through three years on the developmental Epson Tour.
She made her sixth cut of her rookie season and is looking to better her best outing to date, a 20th-place finish at the ShopRite LPGA Classic on June 6.
“I would say focusing on what I’ve been doing and maybe taking some extra time to work on putting a little bit,” Galdiano said of what she’d focus on this weekend. “I feel like the greens can get a little tricky. Rolling in a few more putts would be great.”
Mariel Galdiano handed a ball to a volunteer after completing her round on Wednesday. (Spectrum News/Brian McInnis)
Lani Luafalealo, the surprise story among the local players on Day 1, could not replicate her 1-under effort and one of the first players to ever represent Western Samoa in an LPGA event shot a 77 to miss the cut by five shots.
Two amateurs with Hawaii ties given sponsor’s exemptions, Punahou sophomore Alexa Takai and former Hawaii resident Honorine Nobuta Ferry, will leave with two days of memories of playing with the pros.
Nobuta Ferry (4 over, T-106th) gave herself a chance by moving to 1 under on the day with a birdie at the No. 1 hole, her 10th, but back-to-back bogeys to close the round sealed the 15-year-old’s fate as she recorded a second straight 74.
Takai was even on the day through 11 holes but blew up down the stretch with bogeys on Nos. 5, 7 and 9 and finished at 5 over overall for 109th.
The two LPGA card-holders offered some words of advice to the up-and-comers after their rounds.
“Just don’t give up,” Galdiano said. “Sometimes it gets really, really tough and you feel like it’s the end of the world. Golf is what we do; it’s not who we are. You hear that time and time again and it’s true. I’ve used that for myself as well.”
Corpuz recalled that she played in the Lotte for the first time by winning a Monday qualifier berth while she was a high school senior.
“I just think it’s a great opportunity for them to get their feet wet, see what it’s like to play alongside the pros,” she said.
“It’s just really nice to have a home game I think and be able to see it up close.”
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.