Mari Chun didn't know until two days before the entry deadline if she would play in the Hawai'i State Women's Golf Association Match Play Championship, an event she won two years ago.

After all, she just returned home for the summer following her freshman year at Stanford and also wasn't quite satisfied with her game.

Nothing like a victory to remove any doubts.

Chun, 18, beat veteran Lesly Ann Komoda, 4 and 3, in the final yesterday at the Oahu Country Club.

"Mari hit some great shots. She definitely deserved to win," said Komoda, 37, who won the event in 1992.

That was so long ago Komoda couldn't remember who she beat. But she got an idea of what it's like competing against today's talented young women.

"These kids. Their ability is far greater, their skill-level is greater today than in our time," Komoda said.

She got an early inkling about Chun's talent in their match that ended with halving par-5s at the 15th green.

Chun sank a 10-foot birdie putt to win the par-5 second hole and then stiffed a 4-iron to within six inches on the 189-yard par-3 fourth to go 2 up. She then won the fifth and sixth holes for a 4-up lead.

The 2005 Kamehameha Schools graduate, who walked the hilly golf course in all four of her matches, didn't know how close she had come to a hole-in-one. Riding a cart, Komoda picked up Chun's ball and conceded the birdie tap-in. Komoda nearly holed out from the bunker to tie.

Komoda three-putted the eighth hole, enabling Chun to remain 4 up despite not saving par from the bunker. Chun then went 5 up with a two-putt birdie at the 219-yard ninth, a par-4 for women.

Komoda won 10 and 11 with a birdie and par to cut Chun's lead to three. But another three-putt at the par-5 13th — this time, forgivably, since it was a nasty downhill, sidewinder from 50 feet — cost Komoda a chance to get any closer.

Chun went to 4 up again with a par at 14th, when Komoda bogeyed after punching out from the trees to the right of the green.

"You can't make any mistakes against her," said Komoda, who thought the three-putt at the eighth hole stopped hopes of coming back from the early deficit.

Still, Komoda, a merchandise buyer for the Mid-Pacific Country Club, was happy getting this far in only her second tournament since regaining her amateur status a year ago. One of her victories was over 12-year-old defending champion Cyd Okino.

Komoda plans on entering the HSWGA Stroke Play Championship in two weeks at her home course.

Chun isn't so sure she'll be playing, even though she's the defending champion.

She and her caddie mom, Lani, plan on visiting her brother, Darren, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology senior, who's interning in Japan this summer.

"I haven't seen him in a year," said Chun, who hopes a travel schedule can be worked out so that she can return in time for the next HSWGA major.

"I wasn't sure I was going to even play in this one," Chun said.

The question now remains if she can win that event as a late entry as well.